Night Research
by NotreDame
Summary: Some Nightstone scientists are working on a new chemical. But this supposed cure against cancer won’t have the desired effects. Set just after “The Journey”. Recently reorganized.
1. Chapter 1

All the characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyright Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of NotreDame. I consider The Goliath Chronicles as invalid in the continuity.

Feedback is welcome and much appreciated. Please just put "about gargoyles" in the subject so I will know it is not spam.

_Four_

_Night Research_

Author: NotreDame Building, November 1996

_Lexington_. So now we are back in the castle. It's weird. Kind of cool, but weird. Xanatos and Fox live in this very building… I can hardly get used to it.

With the Quarrymen threat, we don't go out very much. Hudson and Bronx spend all their time in front of the television, as usual (Bronx always sitting on my magazines when I want to read them). Angela and Broadway are generally in the library or sometimes in the kitchen. I saw them kissing once, I was just happy for them. And perhaps a bit envious as I still haven't found somebody. Goliath is the only one who regularly goes out, generally to visit Elisa. I spend my time with my new computer (a very cool one, a welcome gift from Xanatos) or I play with baby Alex. Great little kid. I think I will adapt to this new life.

The only one who doesn't adapt is Brooklyn. He keeps telling we can't trust the man who betrayed us the day we awakened. He can't stand being cooped up in the castle (and it is true that we are all getting a bit claustrophobic). He behaves strangely every time he is alone with Angela or Broadway. Last night he told us that he was going for a short glide and he was away for two hours. Nobody knows where he has been. Goliath doesn't know about it. These two have been arguing regularly lately so we thought we had better not tell Goliath anything.

Alex is sleeping now, I am watching websites. Gay websites, I hope no one will find out. I am always checking that I am alone in the room. On a forum, there is a girl who says '_I told my mother that I am a lesbian and she threw me out. What to do? I am only 17.'_ Poor girl, I don't know what to say to her. Apparently, she is not the only one in that case. A boy wrote '_I told my best friend I was gay and he insulted me he said I was never to fuck him.'_ Sometimes humans are appalling. But what about gargoyles? Are they all straight? Do they tolerate gay people?

And would Fox and Xanatos let me play with their baby if they suspected that I… Oh, I am sure I am no paedophile. One must be MAD to do that to a child, an innocent thing. I will never harm this little baby. But on the forum, they say some people think all homosexuals are perverts and paedophiles. Is it possible…

I _hope_ I am not gay.

_Demona._ I finally went back to work. I fired a few humans, it made me feel better. Tanya is unable to make good coffee. Or is her name Tina? Can't remember. They all look alike to me. Thailog is still nowhere to be seen but I am not sure that he is really dead. When we fell from that roller coaster, I think I saw him crawling away. I must stay vigilant. He may harm Angela. NOBODY will attack my child.

I read strange things in the newspapers. Some maniacs have been found destroying a statue. When they were asked why, all that they could say was that they were sure they had seen it moving. Stupid. They had to pay a fine for vandalism. Only a fine? I would have killed them.

One of my research team has found a new chemical. They think their formula could cure some kinds of cancer. Interesting. I know a lot of people would pay astronomical amounts of money to get this kind of things. But it hasn't been tested yet. They want to make some tests tonight. It will last the whole night. Normally, I shouldn't be able to watch the tests. But I will, from my secret room in the Nightstone building. In this room, I have screens that allow me to watch everything. If the scientists react positively, I will be able to take advantage of it at the soonest…

**Nightstone** **Unlimited, evening**

_Dr. Bonnot._ My name is Charles Henry Bonnot. I have been a biologist and chemist for thirty-five years. I currently work for a company named Nightstone Unlimited, a new one. It's a good job. We are well-paid and it's a good thing, with my wife who doesn't work and my youngest kid at the college. Tomorrow, we will work on a new product that still has to be tested.

I have everything at the ready. I just hope leagues for the defense of animals won't knock at our door. They don't know what we are about to do, after all. And tests on rats are allowed if it is for a medical purpose. Still, the test is about to begin and we are only five in this room. I inject the different products to the different rats, George and Helen take notes, and Josh and Valeria prepare all that we'll need to do next. And then, there is nothing more to do. Just waiting.

It's funny, now I could do anything else. I could be at home, have dinner, watch a movie. I could be in bed with my wife. But I am sitting on an uncomfortable chair, watching white mice and drinking bad coffee. And I wouldn't exchange my place against anything. Tonight we could discover something that would revolutionize medical science. And this is priceless.

Nothing happens first but it is probably normal. Helen goes and makes more coffee. George tells us about Japanese science. Valeria tells us about her brother Vinnie who is away in Japan and who claims to have seen dozens of gargoyles. Josh wonders about gargoyle biology, he thinks they must be aliens. Helen comes back with the coffee and wonders aloud if her children are safe with the gargoyles in town. Valeria protests: her brother doesn't mind about gargoyles. I protest: we should be working and we are only chatting.

There is a rise of temperature with half of the mice. We take notes. Apparently one of them suffers from spasms. Fascinating. Really fascinating…

_Valeria Gregarino._ This is too horrible to watch. Poor little things… I should be prepared to this kind of sights. But it is the first time for me. I try to think that they are only mice and that this experiment may lead to find medical treatments, this is not like cosmetics test. But I think I am going to be sick. I have to leave the room. I run in the corridors. I find the ladies' room. And I vomit, as sick as a dog.

I really should get a grip on myself. I will never make a good lab assistant if I react this way. I will go back to the lab and everything will be all right.

I come back. But Helen looks worried. She says maybe I should go back home, I look sick. She whispers '_are you pregnant, maybe?'_ No, I'm not, I can't be pregnant. The problem is, everyone insists that I go back home. I just have to obey. Now I feel _really_ sick. It's my first day and I am not even able to finish it.

I still have my white coat on my when I enter my car. I wonder what time it is in Japan now. Maybe I could phone Vinnie when I am back home.

_Demona._ The youngest human left early (pitiful). She didn't even notice that she still had a small bottle of test product in the pocket of her coat (pitiful). The other scientists stayed and watched the experiment. Nothing happened. Boring. Really boring.

I listened to their taped conversation again. And I started to feel worried. Virginia (or Valeria, can't remember) had said she had a brother who had been a Quarryman. She may be a Quarrywoman, too. And she had gone with a bottle of test product. Maybe it was part of one of their plans? How could I have been stupid enough to let her go? I found her address and went to her.

I landed on her balcony. Her window was lighted and half-closed. I could see her making a deca, wearing a nightgown. The white coat was on a chair. She left the room. I entered it and started searching the pockets. They were empty. The sound of water warns me that she was having a shower. I searched the room. Nothing. Damn human! I was thirsty so I drank a whole cup of her coffee. I tasted worse than Tanya's: there was more sugar than coffee! I opened all the cupboards. Then I felt dizzy. Someone shouted just behind me. I turned around but…

_Elisa._ The night had been very calm at the beginning. And I was quite… dreamy. I kept thinking of the night the clan had come back to the castle. I kept thinking of that kiss, that very brief kiss, just before the sun. The contact of his lips, the smell of his skin… And then the sun came and he turned into stone. I keep imagining what would have happened if…

Matt is patting my arm and I jump in surprise. '_Come',_ he says, '_a woman claims there is a gargoyle in her kitchen.'_ I laugh. '_Another one!_ _Do we have to visit every freak in this town?'_ He shook his head. '_She says it is a blue female. I prefer...'_ Hardly had he finished his sentence that I had already jumped into my car, forgetting to put on my jacket. I preferred, not to take risks, too. A few minutes later, we were at Valeria Gregarino's home.

She lived in an apartment that was smaller than mine. She apologized herself for welcoming us in a dressing gown and pyjamas and asked us if we wanted some coffee or some banana cream pie… no? The gargoyle? She was in the other room, watching television. A very nice little thing but she didn't know what to do with her.

I had heard enough. This woman was completely nuts. I wanted to leave but we still had to take her statement, that was the procedure. So we asked for her name and age. Valeria Gregarino, twenty-seven. Job? Laboratory assistant at… she dropped her cup of coffee and started coughing.

She had gotten very pale. We carried on with the questions anyway. Yes, she had found a blue gargoyle in her kitchen. The gargoyle had gotten angry first, then had asked her who and where she was. And then she had started shrinking. And… then Miss Gregarino fainted.

Matt and I get worried. He goes to the bathroom but he doesn't find any specific medicine, only basics like aspirin. Apparently, she didn't follow any treatment. I notice a strange smell. The coffee? What did she put in it? In the waste basket, I find a small bottle, empty. Jalapeño, has she just committed suicide in front of us? Was it an accident? I call a doctor. I enter the bedroom.

The television is on. There is someone sitting on the bed, watching it. Someone turns her head and looks at me. Someone says '_Hello'_ happily. I recognize this someone.

It must be a dream. I'm gonna wake up.

**Wyvern** **Castle**

_Angela._ We just got a call from Elisa. She wanted two gargoyles to come to a place as soon as possible and didn't have time to explain. Father was not at the castle so Brooklyn decided that he and I were to do that. Broadway protested and I had to take him aside and to remind him that I did not belong to him and that Elisa was probably in danger. I shouldn't have said that: he became very worried about Elisa. I was, too, so Brooklyn and I glided to that street as fast as possible.

When we entered through the window, Matt Bluestone was bending over something we couldn't see. He hardly said hello to us. Elisa ushered us into a bedroom. And I got the shock of my life.

There was a hatchling sitting on the bed. A very cute little girl with red hair and blue skin, wrapped in a blanket. She was about four years old (no, eight, I still count in human age). She smiled at us and said '_Hello'._ I felt troubled: what did a gargoyle that young do in New York? Why wasn't the clan aware of it? And why did I have the feeling I had already seen her somewhere?

Brooklyn was petrified too. He showed me a golden armband the little girl was playing with. _It belonged to mother._ And there was her usual clothes at the foot of the bed, as well as her other pieces of jewellery. '_Mother?'_ I asked cautiously.

'_You my mother?'_ asked the hatchling. And she stretched out her arms to me, as if she was waiting for me. Slowly, I walked to the bed and I hugged her. It was probably the thing to do but I couldn't feel anything. I just had the feeling I was having a nightmare. How was this possible? Matt came into the room, holding a human child hardly older than my hatchling mother in his arms. '_The medical service will be there soon to examine this lady_', he said. '_She was twenty-seven only one hour ago. Go away with the… hatchling and her things. And don't touch anything!'_ So we put mother's clothes in a bag and we left the apartment, the little girl cuddled in my arms, giggling and commenting everything she saw.

_Brooklyn._ I expected anything but _this_! Demona as a hatchling. She is one of the only persons in the world I couldn't imagine as an innocent little thing.

Wait a minute… is she _really_ innocent? Isn't the dangerous creature I know still in this tiny body? I tell Angela to stop on a rooftop. We both land, little Demona runs to the edge of the roof and starts cooing at the cars. And I explain Angela that we must be cautious: it may be one of her mother's plots to enter the castle.

She opens wide eyes. '_Look at her'_, she says, gesturing at baby Demona who is watching the street below as if it was the most extraordinary thing in the world. '_She's a kid. It may be a miscast spell but we can't let a hatchling alone in a town like New York City, the Quarrymen could find her. And she can't take care of herself alone. Don't you have a heart? I know you don't like her but if you like me, please let me get her back to the castle.'_

Of course, I have a heart. She has broken it. But why? '_Angela, is there something wrong with me?'_ She seems surprised. '_Not particularly. Why?'_ I've got to know. '_Have you chosen between the three of us?'_

I tell her about the kiss I surprised. She smiles apologetically. Yes, she and my brother have sort of started a relationship. She didn't mean to hurt me but things are what they are. She hopes I will find someone as soon as possible. And I deserve someone great.

I ask her: what did he do? _Nothing in particular._ _It's just that I love him._ Every word is like a stab in my heart. And I need to know something else. One last thing.

She seems to be really surprised by the question. But she answers me anyway. Little Demona shows signs of impatience and we glide back to the castle. Now I just have to forget Angela. I just hope there's someone waiting for me, somewhere…

**Wyvern** **Castle**

_Fox_. I woke up early and I went to the gargoyles wing. I wanted to ask Lexington if he didn't mind taking care of Alex next night: David and I will go to the opera and Owen will have his night off. I think Lexington must be the best baby-sitter in New York and it's nice to see how well he and my baby get together. Sometimes I really wonder why I wanted to hunt gargoyles with the Pack last year.

The gargoyles were arguing. All looked either upset, or worried, or ready to laugh nervously. In the middle of the room, Bronx was licking the cheek of a little gargoyle girl who was wrapped in a blanket. She waved at me, giggling, saying '_Hello Madam'_. I was surprised: where did she come from? Why haven't I seen her before? Suddenly, Goliath looked at the window and said: '_we'll discuss it tonight'_. And they all froze into stone.

But the little girl didn't freeze. She started wriggling in pain instead. Her skin turned white, her wings and tail disappeared. Then it stopped and there was a redheaded human little girl in the middle of the room. A little girl who looked really terrified and who started to cry desperately.

I could hardly believe my eyes. But I knew one thing: there was a child in distress in front of me, so I did what every mother in the world would have done. I embraced her and tried to comfort her. '_It will be all right, sweetheart. Don't worry, it's over. It's all right.'_ She cuddled in my arms, crying again and again. Then she stopped crying. She looked at her five-fingered hands with a puzzled look. '_Amazing…'_ she said before jumping on the floor and running to Angela. '_Mother! Look, look at this!'_ She stopped and touched Angela's stone leg. '_Mother?_ _Mother, what's happened to you? Why is your skin so cold? Mother, please answer me, don't leave me alone! Mother!'_ And she started crying again.

_To be continued…_


	2. Demie

All the characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyright Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of NotreDame. I consider The Goliath Chronicles as invalid in the continuity.

Any kind of feedback is welcome and much appreciated.

_Four_

_Demie_

Author: NotreDame ()

**Manhattan****, 1996**

During her career, Elisa Maza already had to tell painful news to families. A son had been killed, a sibling had been attacked, a daughter had been raped… Dealing with the families' reactions was always very difficult. Seeing mothers and fathers burst into tears in front of her or starting to act like zombies and knowing that nothing could be done to really relieve them their pain always made her uneasy for days. She could still remember the first time she had to tell a man that his daughter had been raped and killed. The girl was not older than her sister Beth was at that time.

However, this case was going to be _really_ tricky. "Mr Gregarino", she said to the greyish-haired man who was sitting in front of him, "Mrs Gregarino", the portly woman with a friendly face smiled to her, surprised, "I'm afraid I have bad news about your daughter, Valeria."

"About Valeria? What's happened?" asked Mrs Gregarino, worried. Elisa sighed. "It appeared that she had an accident yesterday evening, when she went back home. She involuntarily put a chemical she was working on in her coffee. She is currently at the hospital."

"Do you mean that she tried to…" asked the father, not daring to finish his sentence. Elisa shook her head. "No, we are pretty sure that it was no suicide. The bottle looked very much like the one of a sweetener she regularly used and apparently, it tasted very sugary. It was nothing but an accident. She apparently had a hallucination just after drinking it and she phoned the police, believing there was something abnormal in her apartment. So we were able to send her to the hospital at the soonest."

"Will she… be all right?" asked Mrs Gregarino. It was the part Elisa dreaded at most. "According to the doctors, just now, her life is not in danger. But there were unexpected side-effects." At this point, a man in a white coat coughed and put his hand on Elisa's shoulder. "Let me finish, detective", he said. "I am Dr Sato and I have just examined your daughter. I'm sorry. It appears that the mix of chemicals has affected her physiology."

"What?" gaped Valeria's mother. Her husband embraced her and Dr Sato carried on. "Apparently, she has reached a stable point. She doesn't suffer at all and she is perfectly conscious. But I think we'd better keep her at the hospital for a moment."

"When will be able to visit her?" asked Mr Gregarino. The doctor exchanged a brief look with Elisa. "Before any visit, there are two things you need to know." He took a hand of both in his owns. "I'm afraid it won't be easy. First, she suffers from amnesia. She can remember her name, but not her job or her address. But that's not the most disturbing." Valeria's mother was on the verge of tears. "Her morphology has changed. She doesn't suffer at all but she looks exactly like a four-year-old child. It seems…" Mrs Gregarino burst into tears. Her husband got as pale as a ghost. "What does this joke mean?" he asked. "This is impossible! Is our daughter dead?" Dr Sato shook his head. "We are working into turning her back normal. But it will probably take quite a long time."

Elisa tried to find words to comfort the two unhappy parents. They finally left the precinct, both upset, and headed to the hospital. Elisa hesitated and then decided to follow them. She could visit Goliath and the clan later.

**Wyvern**** Castle**

In a corner of the children's room, four-year-old Dominique Destine was playing with two-months-old Alexander Xanatos. They had apparently decided to be friends the first time they saw each other, that was a few hours before. Owen Burnett was watching them, his face unreadable.

Suddenly, Dominique dropped the puppet she was holding and started shouting. Her skin turned blue, a tail and wings erupted, tearing her yellow dress, her white socks were destroyed when her feet turned larger. Alex watched her, horrified. He didn't mind his new friend being a gargoyle, he _liked_ gargoyles (especially Lex). But he could see that the nice little girl was suffering horribly, and this was wrong. His fey senses were telling him that there was something magic about it but his powers were not developed enough to relieve his little friend from her pain. So he started crying, too.

Footsteps echoed in the corridor and Fox burst into the room, closely followed by Angela. Both took a child in their arms and started to comfort them. The clan and Xanatos entered the room and watched them uneasily. After a few minutes, the children calmed down. Fox and Angela exchanged a look. "Has she… turned human by day?" asked the lavender gargress.

"Yes", said Alex's mother. "And she couldn't remember why. I'm afraid it was still painful. There was no problem the rest of the day, she watched TV, she played with Alex, she took a bath, she slept a bit."

"Thank you for having taken care of her", said Angela. Xanatos frowned. "May I know why… what happened to this… child?" Brooklyn sighed and explained again about the events of the night before. "Maybe Elisa will be able to tell us more", he finished. "I hope we won't all be turned into hatchlings." He watched the two kids who had gone back to their plays. They were laughing happily and the Demona he knew would have _never_ played innocently with a human child. She was not faking. Yes, he didn't mind the hatchling Demona to stay in the castle.

Goliath felt it weird to see his former mate as a hatchling, though. He had forgotten how cute, innocent and vulnerable she had been. And she had not recognised him. She seemed ready to consider him as a rookery father. That was nice but disturbing.

It was Hudson who felt the most disorientated. Since Goliath had come back from Avalon, he had supposed that the clan's next generation would be Angela's first egg and he had hoped to live long enough to see him/her hatch, in 2018. At that day, he would be the equivalent of 70. In a way, it was great, not to have to wait to see a hatchling play in Wyvern Castle.

On the other hand, he had already seen Demona as a hatchling, more than a thousand year before, when she was not yet Demona, nor even Goliath's 'Angel of the Night'. She had been one of his rookery children, like dozens of other gargoyles. Seeing her reminded him of Goliath as a hatchling. And of Othello, Desdemona and all their rookery siblings as hatchlings. Suddenly, the playroom was full of young gargoyles who had been shattered to death when they had reached adulthood. And it reminded him that his mate's first egg had hatched the same year as Demona's. They had been so happy together. And then she had been killed. Happy and painful memories came and go into the eldest gargoyle's mind until he had to chase them away. Being nostalgic was pointless, only the present mattered.

At that point, little Demona walked to her grown-up daughter and pulled on her hand. "Mother, why did it hurt when my wings came back?" Stunned, Angela said: "that's a good question, sweetheart. But there's a way to solve this problem. Isn't there?" she added, glaring at Owen. "You can remove the curse, can't you?"

"I'm afraid it's not that easy" Burnett said matter-of-factly.

"Oh, come on, trickster", she whispered, ushering the blue hatchling away. "You had your little fun, torturing each other when she was grown-up but now she's a hatchling and she can't remember anything! Will you let a child suffer?"

"The problem, Miss Angela, is that I can't use magic unless Alex is involved. And he is still too young to perform such a complicated counter-spell. There could be unexpected side-effects."

"At least make the metamorphosis less painful" pleaded Angela. At that point, Fox went to her son and lifted him in her arms. "Alex", she asked, "do you mind if your little friend feels this horrible pain again at next sunrise, and again at next sunset, and…" The baby nodded furiously. "Do you want to help to relieve this pain?" He nodded again. "So", she said, smiling at Owen, "everything has been said." And Owen turned into Puck.

The hatchling laughed like mad while the fey made the baby repeat the incantation. "_The child who is human by day, And gargoyle when sun is away, From now on will feel no more pain, When the magical change happens._" Everyone stepped back. The little girl was lifted from the floor, red and blue sparks appeared around her, disappeared and she fell softly on her feet. Puck turned back into Owen. Alex giggled happily at little Demona, very proud of himself, then fell asleep in his mother's arms, exhausted.

"Thank you", said Angela.

Elisa came to the castle later. She found all the gargoyles in the common room, except Brooklyn, who was alone in the courtyard, and Broadway, who was in the kitchen with a very hungry Bronx. The television was on but no one was watching it. Lexington was browsing the internet to look for anything that had a link with grown-ups turned into children. The hatchling was drawing. She was now wearing a simple white tunic similar to Angela's. Hudson, Goliath and Angela were talking.

When he saw the detective entering the room, Goliath got up and walked to her. "I'm glad you came, Elisa", he said in a low voice.

"I'm glad about it too", she answered. "Is everyone all right?"

"Yes. _She_ still can't remember anything, not even Hudson or the castle, but _she's_ all right."

"Same thing about Valeria Gregarino." Elisa explained again how the lab assistant had accidentally put the chemical in her coffee and concluded: "I was with her parents at the hospital. They could hardly believe it." Elisa sighed. "Dr Sato and the Nightstone research team have started to work on an antidote but it will probably take time. And money."

"You know, Elisa", said Brooklyn from the doorway, "I really think I prefer her this way." The red gargoyle more or less expected Angela to protest but she didn't. For the first time, she could see her mother _happy_. Not with the evil joy she has displayed when she had tried to wipe out humanity on hunter's moon, but with pure, innocent happiness. "Yes", said the lavender female slowly. "It may be a new start for her."

Hudson wondered if this was right. His mind was still buzzing with little Demona's hatchling rookery siblings. "Ye, lads", he whispered, "but how are ye going te explain her why she turns human by day? Or why her logical hatching date doesn't match with any hatching year? She will find out something, ye know. She was never stupid." Angela shrugged. "We have time to think about this", she said.

The child suddenly jumped onto the floor and ran to the group, gesturing at Elisa. For a second, she thought the girl wanted to attack her. But no, she was holding a drawing. "This is for you", she said proudly, expecting to be complimented. Stunned, Elisa didn't react. After a few seconds, the child asked sadly: "You don't like it?"

"Demie, Elisa is a bit shy, sometimes", hurriedly said Angela. "Elisa, you like it, don't you?"

"It's… beautiful, thank you." It looked like a cross between a house and a porcupine. "What is it, exactly?"

"A castle!" Indeed, there were doors, windows, turrets and crenels. In what was probably the courtyard, people were standing. Some had wings and tails, some hadn't and a few had an abnormal number of appendages. Satisfied, _Demie_ ran back to the table. "Mother, the next one is for you!" she shouted to Angela.

"She calls you mother?" Elisa asked. Angela shrugged. "Let's say I'm her clan mother." Hudson and Goliath exchanged a look. They hadn't expected the Avalon-born gargoyle to stick to gargoyle ways. But somehow, her reaction was not that surprising: as she herself had been raised by foster parents, she didn't mind being a foster mother, and she wasn't the kind to reject a child. "OK", said Elisa. "You call her Demie, now?"

"It seemed appropriate. Well, more than her previous name."

"You should have seen her playing with Alex", added Lex from behind his keyboard. "Too cute. One should have filmed them and sent the tape to the Quarrymen."

"What is the Quarrymen?" suddenly asked Demie.

Nobody dared answering.

Before the end of the night, Goliath and Xanatos had reached an agreement. He and Fox would take care of Demie during the day, and the clan would carry on protecting Alex by night. The leader of the Wyvern clan wondered if he was right to trust Xanatos about one of the clan's hatchlings. But anyway, he had no choice. He told himself that since Xanatos had a son, he would probably not endanger someone else's child. But… well, this had been Demona! He nearly told her to phone Elisa if there was any problem. But could a hatchling that young use a telephone? This was going to be tricky.

Xanatos found the situation destabilizing, too. What would happen if little Demie suddenly turned back into her Demona mode and tried to harm his son? Well, there were dozens of alarms systems in the castle, as well as a fey majordomo. And Alex _liked_ the new clan member, and Fox was willing to consider her as a member of the "family". He would have to be careful.

On the other hand, this was going to be interesting. There was a way to get more than twenty or thirty years younger in only an hour? It could prove very useful. Of course he wouldn't use this kind of product on him or Fox without knowing the consequences. But he would witness the consequences, here in his castle. So this could be a good deal for him.

When she left the castle, Elisa wondered how many time it would take before Dominique Destine's disappearance was noticed. The police would probably have to investigate on that case. But how to explain that this CEO (and gargoyle, immortal and former arch-enemy of the Manhattan clan) had been turned into a dainty little thing and lived now in a castle above the clouds?

And she hadn't recognized her. She had even given her a drawing. After having tried to kill her several times. It was too weird. Kind of cute, but weird. It may be the solution to a lot of problems on this planet, thought Elisa. All the mad, dangerous people should be turned into very young children. They would be happier. And so would we.

When Elisa went back home that night, she pinned the drawing of the castle over her bed. She couldn't help feeling some kind of a twinge of sorrow when she though of little Demie, cuddled in Angela's arms. Why? because she wanted to have a child, too? No, she though. With the hectic life I have, there is no place for a baby. And by the way, with which man would I make it? She though of Goliath and smiled. Yes, he would be the one she would choose but it would lead to no child. Don't even think of it, she told herself. Things are what they are.

**Nightstone**** Unlimited, the following day**

Dr Bonnot feared the moment he would have to tell Ms Destine what had happened to poor Valeria. She had been absent all day. One has tried to phone her but nobody had answered. His team had been trying to work normally anyway. The properties of the chemical (it has been decided to call it VAL001) were unforeseen but fascinating. Maybe it would be possible to use it, not only in cancer cases but also about other diseases.

Helen, Josh, George and himself had been visited by Valeria's parents. They were destroyed, poor ones. They had only two children and their son was abroad, in Japan. He had to promise them that he would do anything to find an antidote. Poor Valeria. Stupid Valeria. Why did she have to do something as foolish as putting a chemical that dangerous in her coffee? It was lucky that she was the only one who drank it.

The research team tried to spend the day normally but it seemed that everyone was uneasy. Nobody dared drinking coffee. Josh tried to make a bad joke about it but when everyone glared at him, he stuttered and didn't dare finishing his sentence.

The results of the tests on rats seemed very ambiguous. The product was apparently instable and Bonnot wished he had much more time to study it. But the priority was to heal Valeria, as soon as possible. He couldn't let his parents suffer this way.

He was distracted by a telephone ringing. "Hello", said an unfamiliar male voice. I want you to carry on with the researches on VAL001 whatever happens."

"Sorry?"

"Carry on with the research. Nightstone Unlimited belongs to me. And I want you to send me samples of everything you find interesting."

Dr Bonnot hung up. The phone rang again. "I'm afraid you didn't understand me. If you don't carry on with your analyses and researches, I'll have to fire you."

"What?" gaped the scientist. "What do you mean? First of all, who are you?"

"Oh, my dear Dominique never told you about me? Pity. My name is Alexander Thailog and it happens that I own her company."

"What?"

"It appears that she is on vacation. I will replace her. Just phone her manor and leave a message on her answering machine if there is any problem."

"But…" a click indicated that the mysterious phone-caller had hung up. Grumbling, Bonnot got up and went to leave the building. Just before leaving, he asked the receptionist if she knew about a man named "Alexander Tailor". She was hardly surprised. Yes, she had heard about him but nobody had ever seen him. Maybe he was just very shy. Or very ugly.

**Ishimura****, Japan****. 02:00 AM**

The phone rang and woke Vinnie Gregarino up. He managed to get up and stumbled in his tiny bedroom. Maybe he shouldn't have drunk so much the evening before. Japan was a nice country. They had nice drinks and nice food. Nice people. And nice gargoyles. He had gotten used to them but he still hadn't told anyone at home that his new job consisted in keeping watch on sleeping statues. Well, the task was easy. He just had to call the security if there was a problem. But, sure enough, Mom, Dad and Valeria would find it weird. Who was calling him at that time of the night? "Hello?" he growled.

"Vinnie? It's Mom. You need to know… your sister had an accident. We need you to come back to New York as soon as possible."

"What?" he shouted, suddenly very awake. What had happened to his sister? It was to be serious: his mother was obviously upset. "Well… she's traumatised. She doesn't recognise us any more."

"What kind of accident? If someone has harmed Val, I'll…" he stopped suddenly. He was not a violent person. The most dangerous weapon he had ever used could have fit easily in a baby's cartoon. But if this was about Valeria… "Is she going to…"

"The doctor says she'll live. Vinnie, dear, do you remember when you two had measles? When you used to stay in front of television and watch _Bambi_."

"Yes, Mom", he said.

"It's the same thing now."

"She has measles?" At her age, it was very serious.

"She watches _Bambi_ all day."

"What?"

"Please, sonny, come back home! Things are going… weird." Vinnie sighed. He would come back home to put Mom's mind at ease. She was overreacting. What was wrong in watching a cartoon? His sister couldn't be that bad.

_To be continued…_


	3. The longest night

All the characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyright Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of NotreDame. I consider The Goliath Chronicles as invalid in the continuity.

Any kind of feedback is welcome and much appreciated.

_Four_

_The longest night_

Author: NotreDame ()

**Wyvern**** Castle****, Friday, 20 December 1996**

In the nursery, Demie was telling a story to Alex. The sun was still to be seen but she was already wearing her gargoyle outfit, with a blanket on her shoulders. "It will be Christmas soon", she explained. "Santa Claus is going to come. I hope the Quarrymen won't take him as a target." She sighed. "I wish I could go out for a glide but Goliath doesn't want to. He says it is still too dangerous outside for a hatchling. I miss them when they are all away on patrol and when you are sleeping… They train me to glide and to fight but I'm not strong enough yet." The little girl sighed again. She was bored. She hardly went out, even by day. Officially, she was the daughter of a severely ill cousin of Fox. Her human name was "Dominique Marina Goupil".

Once, when an adult human had asked her where her mommy was, she had answered: "She's in the courtyard of the castle, but she's still in stone-sleep." Everybody had laughed. Stupid grown-ups. Well, in fact, she sometimes wished she was grown-up. She wished she had rookery siblings. She felt alone.

An itch in her back averted her that the sun was about to set. She dropped her blanket and turned back into her gargoyle form, which make the baby giggle, as usual. She tickled him under the chin and said: "My family is awake, I'm going to greet them." And she headed to the courtyard.

Generally, when the clan was broking out of their stone shells, Demie tried to hug Angela first. But it was always Bronx who was reaching her before the others and wished her good night by licking her face until someone told him to stop. Then she said hello to everyone and told her clan parents (Angela, Goliath and Hudson, the Trio were more like uncles or elder brothers to her) what she had done during the day. At the same time, Broadway was cooking, Lex was in front of his computer and nobody knew exactly what Brooklyn was doing. Then it was dinner. Having a hatchling in the clan did not seem to change very much things.

Brooklyn was discreetly leaving the castle when he thought that he liked the things this way. Surprisingly enough, the kid seemed to like him. He regularly offered to train her and took advantage of the opportunity to tell her things that could be useful to her, like "when you have done something wrong, the best thing is to admit it", "humans and gargoyles can't be all evil or all trustworthy", "manipulating someone is disgusting" or "when someone is friend to the clan (let's take an example at random: Elisa Maza), you have to respect this person."

It wasn't addressed to the little girl but to the woman she had been. He couldn't help doing it. This kind of revenge was so good! Anyway, he had the feeling that life was going better. Landing on a rooftop, he watched around him and waited. Nothing. It wasn't going to happen this night. Slightly disappointed, he headed back to the castle. He would come again later.

Lexington hurriedly turned off the internet when he was called to dinner. He would visit this forum later. The great things about internet were that you could talk to anyone, anywhere, with no one knowing who or what you are. No one could guess that you were a gargoyle. Or gay. He was getting easier with the idea of being (probably) gay but still wondered how the clan would react. And how was he going to find a mate? Were there many gay gargoyles in the world? Better keeping that secret for the moment.

The radio was on when everyone sat at the table. The newscaster was talking about a Quarrymen rally that would take place and commentated about the Quarrymen's motivations. "Bad", mumbled Goliath over his plate. Demie was puzzled. "Can't the police put them under arrest?" she asked. The adult gargoyles looked at each other. "It's not that easy", finally said Angela. "Eat your meat, I'll explain you later."

"They won't kill you, mother?" asked the hatchling, worried. Her 'mother' patted her on the back while Goliath remembered what he had been told more than a thousand years before. "A warrior's life has to be dangerous, child", he repeated. "Were it not the Quarrymen, it would be something else. We protect. That's what we are supposed to do."

"Will they kill you too, Goliath?" asked Demie, more and more worried. Angela embraced her. "We won't let them kill anybody. Now eat your meat."

The child looked down at her plate. It smelt good but she was not very hungry. One could hear the weather forecast now. They always told about the temperature, the rain, the snow but never about the winds. The night was going to be cold, anyway. Finally, the weather forecaster said a very strange word. "What is a winter solstice?" asked Demie. "Tomorrow night, sweetie", answered Angela between two mouthfuls. "It's the longest night in the year. Then they will get shorter."

The blue hatchling dropped her fork. The nights would get shorter? But it meant that her family would stay in stone sleep for a longer time! She would be awake, alone, for longer times every day. That would be more and more boring! It wasn't fair! Why hadn't anyone told her about that?

"You don't eat?" Broadway asked her. It was too much. Couldn't they be interested in anything else than what she was eating? "No, I'm not hungry", she said sharply. "I won't eat."

"Demie, please…" begin Angela.

"I won't eat!" she shouted, more and more angry. "By the way, who's Demona?"

A cold silence fell in the room. It was the question everyone had more or less anticipated to come one day but no answer had been prepared. And the fact was, at that moment, with her eyes blazing red and her tiny fists clenched, cute little Demie looked much more like her adult self than ever. Goliath finally broke the silence. "Who told you about her?" She hardly calmed down. "No one. But you always talk about her when I'm not around. _Demie__ looks like Demona, I hope Demie won't become like Demona… _WHO THE FUCK IS DEMONA?"

The blue hatchling suddenly blushed. She didn't want to say this coarse word, she had just let it slip. And the clan really looked shocked, especially her mother. The leader's eyes briefly blazed white. "She's not your concern", he said sharply. "And I WON'T tolerate that kind of language!" Demie looked down at her plate, her feeling of unfairness growing bigger and bigger. She felt about to cry but didn't want anyone to see her weeping. She pushed back her plate and ran out of the room.

Angela got up but Hudson held her back. "Let her calm down first, lass", he suggested. She nodded and sat down, thinking that raising a kid was much more difficult than she had expected. Especially when you have to raise your own mother.

**Elsewhere in New York City**

Jon Castaway was waiting for all his assistants to come. Tonight there would be a rally and more honest, decent people would come and help him erase the gargoyle threat. It would be a great step forward. His only regret was that neither Jason, nor Robyn would be at his side.

He felt a sudden surge of affection at the though of his elders siblings. Poor Robyn, poor Jason, what had they been doing to end up in prison? He remembered how he had felt at the age of nine, when he had seen his own father savagely killed by the Demon. Poor Dad… Jason was only sixteen at that time, and Robyn, fourteen, they were mere children but they had practically raised him, trained him, taught him everything he needed to know. And now they were in jail and his brother was crippled. It was all the gargoyles' fault. They would have to pay.

Adam entered the room (it was not his real name: he had told all of them to take false names, by alphabetic order, to avoid the confusion). "There are already dozens of them", he said. "Are we to begin?" Castaway smiled and remembered just on time about his English accent. "Let's wait a little more time", he said. "Then they will be ready."

 **Castle Wyvern**

Demie was neither in the gargoyles wing, nor in the garden. Angela entered the library and started searching. A noise made her turned back and she found herself facing Broadway. "Have you seen…" He interrupted her sentence with a kiss. Surprised, she commented: "Thank you, that was nice, but why?" He kissed her again. "Please, Angela, we haven't… you know, for ages!"

She cuddled against him. Yes, they had had less time for the two of them lately. When they were on patrol, they had to be extra-careful because of the Quarrymen threat. And when they were in the castle, they had to hide from the other clan members, especially Demie. She seemed to guess when they wanted to be alone and to always choosing these moments to ask them to play with her. It was maddening.

Broadway didn't mind Demie. Her unexpected "birth" seemed to have positive consequences. The clan had lost an enemy (who moreover, was immortal), Angela didn't worry any more about her and could at last have a mother/daughter relationship with her (even though she didn't expect to be the mother) and Elisa was safer now. However, having a child in the clan had also drawbacks. Now he and his girlfriend were alone and the temptation to take advantage of the situation was very strong. Tenderly, he kissed her on her neck, then on the forehead, then on her lips again. "Ooooh, we shouldn't", she whispered. But it was so good.

Minutes later, they parted away, remembering that they had other things to do. Their shags never lasted long enough.

Goliath left the library hurriedly. Neither his daughter, nor her… let's say it, boyfriend, had seen him. He didn't mean to spy on them, he had just bumped into them by accident. He left the room and realized that he felt disturbed.

Why? He told himself that he didn't mind these two ones having a relationship. Something like that would have to happen sooner or later. And Broadway was brave, loyal, he would treat Angela with the respect she deserved. And they seemed to be happy. And himself…

And he hadn't cuddled anybody himself. That was the point: Angela had been kissed and Elisa hadn't. The very brief peck she had given to him the night they had come back to the castle hardly counted: he hadn't had time to kiss back. And ever since, they had never been alone together. Both had to work, to sleep, to take care of their families… suddenly, he felt the urge to go and see her as soon as possible.

**Rooftops**

Demie had decided that, as no one seemed to understand her, she was going to go out for a glide. Alone. If they really cared about her, they would go and search her. If they didn't… well, she would think about it later. And it would be the occasion to visit the city.

It was really big. But it did not look like an apple. The hatchling's wings were not developed enough yet to carry her on long distances and she had to stop on every rooftop. There she could watch everything. There were humans walking, talking and driving cars that looked as small as Alex's toy cars. There were children, too. Demie wanted to go and play with them but she remembered that she wasn't authorized to talk to humans when she was in gargoyle form: they could be Quarrymen in disguise. This was scary. But exciting. In a way, Demie secretly wished she could see a real Quarryman.

The bad thing was, she couldn't hear what they were saying. Curiously, she landed on a rooftop that was lower than the others. She still couldn't hear because of the noise of the cars. She tried another rooftop. Then another one. Then she decided to go to ground level. If she stayed in a dark and desert alley, no one would notice her.

She was afraid but it was so much fun! There were a man and a woman talking, not very far away. "I tell you, Brendan, it's the last time I let you drive." "No need to get angry, Margot, we will find…" Demie giggled. Then she heard someone coming closer and closer…

It was enough: she was going to scale a wall and come back to the rooftops. Strange wall: it was smoother than the castle's, she had less hold. And it was horribly high. She remembered what she had been told: keep your back straight, only one hand and one foot at a time… it was too high, too difficult. At the second floor, she fell in the alley and lost consciousness.

**Wyvern**** Castle**

"Lex, have you seen…" Lexington jumped and clicked to close the web document he was watching. Unfortunately, there was another document just behind. Brooklyn clearly read: 'Want to talk about it?' in enormous letters but did not pay attention. What puzzled him was his rookery brother's strange expression. "Have you seen Demie?" he asked.

"No, why? there's a problem with her?"

"She starts questioning about where she comes from and she may be running away just now in a city full of Quarrymen but no, there are no problems with her." Brooklyn sighed. "Lex, on which planet are you living?"

"Can't see what you're talking about." The web-winged gargoyles closed all the documents. "I'm ready to look for her."

"You stick to this computer eight hours a night, we all miss you! Do you have someone?"

"What?"

"Someone. A virtual girlfriend", he teased. Then he remembered something that had happened two nights before. He had borrowed the computer to Lex and started to type 'gargoyles' in a search engine. Hardly had he typed two letters that another word had been displayed: 'gay'. First he had not paid attention, but now…

"Or a boyfriend?" finally asked Brooklyn. Lexington looked away. "Do… you mind?" he finally said. "I won't make advances to you, you're my brother", he hurriedly added. "But…"

"I'm a bit surprised, brother. But it's a good thing for me. It means there will be more girls for me." Lexington smiled, relieved. He didn't expect this reaction but it was not that surprising: apparently, Brooklyn was still obsessed with finding a girlfriend. Then he noticed: "I'm glad you take it well but it doesn't mean more girls for you. Some females are lesbians, you know." The red gargoyle stopped smiling and mumbled. "Well, well, we'll see later, now let's look for Demie."

**Elisa's apartment**

Goliath landed on Elisa's balcony. He knew it was her night off. The door was open, he entered.

The bathroom was lighted. She was sitting in front of the mirror, combing her hair. She didn't seem remotely surprised at his coming. "Goliath? Why…" He embraced her without saying a word. She dropped her comb and buried her face in his chest. "I know why you came but…" His hands were playing with her hair. There was no need to say anything: they both knew. "Goliath, I…" And she started crying.

He expected anything but this sudden burst of tears. "Elisa, why…" She tried to get a grip on herself. "I'm no gargoyle. It won't work. Goliath, I love you, but…" He wiped her tears. "Please, my Elisa, we haven't even tried!" Slowly, he kissed her on the forehead. She stretched herself to reach his lips. They kissed. Again. And again. Goliath's hands were running on Elisa's hair and he realized that they were getting lower. He stopped but she whispered: "No. Let's do it." At that moment, she just wanted to make love with him, whatever it could lead to.

The phone rang. They didn't move to hang up. Then they could hear the answering machine. Then a familiar voice. "_Hello? It's Brooklyn. Elisa, if you're here, do you happen to know where Goliath is? We have some kind of a problem_." They looked at each other. Goliath cursed inwardly. Why did it have to happen _now_? And on the other hand, why had he left the castle without warning anybody? "_It appears that Demie has run away. I already sent everyone to look for her, except Bronx._" Goliath growled. "What?!" Then he looked down at Elisa. She seemed to be concerned. "Anything could happen to her", she noticed. "Go back to the castle, big guy." He nodded and reluctantly left the apartment. Then Elisa remembered about a Quarrymen rally that had been told about on the radio, took her jacket and ran down the stairs. After all, she was clan. And so was Demie.

**Rooftops**

The whole clan, except Bronx, was gliding over the city, desperately looking for the blue hatchling. After one hour, they still hadn't found anything.

Broadway remembered having told the child that there were human children who played in Central Park by day. He decided to have a look but only found Angela, who had had the same idea. She came into his arms immediately and he embraced her in a protective gesture. "She was upset", she told herself aloud. "Why didn't I go and talk to her immediately? Now she could be anywhere!"

"It's not your fault", he comforted, patting her back. "You couldn't know that she would react this way."

"I should. She's my… mother and child, after all."

"You're a bit young to be a mother", he observed. "And all parents make mistakes, sometimes." He thought about. "Maybe Bronx could follow her trail?"

"He's a bit conspicuous. We can't call the police, we can't…"

"Yes, the police!" he exclaimed. "They will search her by day."

"It will be too late."

"No, she's immortal, remember." Angela sighed. "But if something happens to her, she will be traumatised. She will grow up thinking all humans are evil or…" The lavender female buried her face into her boyfriend's shoulder, nearly crying. "I don't want her to become… like she was."

Hudson was trying to remember how Demona was when she was a hatchling. He was already the second-in-command at that time, which meant he didn't have to take care of the rookery. Sometimes there were kids who glided away to 'explore' but they never got very far. There were no skyscrapers to hide behind. And no Quarrymen.

That was Demona, as far as he could remember her: clever and not afraid of getting hurt but stubborn and somewhat aggressive. "We should tell her the truth", he said to Brooklyn, who was gliding at his side. The beaked gargoyle cringed. "What do you want to say to her? _You're a madwoman, probably the most embittered person in the whole world, you caused the death of hundreds of gargoyles throughout the centuries and you tried to kill almost each of us personally. Oh, and in fact your mother is your daughter and she is the one and only person who really loves you. Have a good night, kid!_" He sighed. "No kid will want to hear this."

"So what do ye want te tell her?"

Brooklyn did not answer. He was wondering how it came that this… child still caused trouble while remembering nothing about her previous life. He changed the subject. "There are people shouting this way, I can hear them. Maybe we could have a look?" The brown gargoyle nodded and both glided to a place where a crowd was beginning to form.

**Somewhere else**

Mike and Lenny were walking to a Quarrymen meeting when they heard a strange sound coming from a dark alley. Someone being attacked by a gargoyle? Bravely, Mike took his hammer and ran into the alley: no monster was going to threaten the honest citizens. Lenny followed him reluctantly.

There was indeed a gargoyle lying unconscious in the alley. It was the smallest one they had ever seen: she was about three feet and four inches tall. According to her features and clothing, it was a female; her body was the one of a very young child. Mike dropped his hammer and bent over her. "She's unconscious", he said. "What do we do?"

"We bring it to Castaway", Lenny answered excitedly. "Think of it, Mike, what a great article!" He immediately took several photos of the little girl. Both men were working for a newspaper, Lenny as a photograph and Mike as a journalist. They had already published several photos and articles about the gargoyle threat, which had made Castaway particularly happy. Mike sighed. "No, it won't pass. Look, she's too cute. People may think gargoyles are like us."

"Like us? Who would let a child alone in a city like New York?" At that point, Demie opened her eyes. She saw the two humans arguing and decided that something was really, really wrong. She got up and tried to hide. Lenny stopped talking and smiled at her. "Don't worry, we won't hurt you, little one." He walked to her and grabbed her arm. Stunned, she pinned her tiny talons into his arm. He shouted and she ran away, jumped and managed to scale the wall. But it was too high. What had the clan said to her? _Never talk to people you don't know. If you're attacked…_ advice was mixing in her head. _Use your tail to make him lose balance… try to get airborne… hit the stomach or the jaw…_she couldn't go higher. She fell again, felt something hard and cold hitting her stomach and lost consciousness.

**Castle Wyvern**

Angela had gone back to the castle, just in case, and found no one but Bronx. She was about to leave when Goliath landed in the courtyard. They hugged. "I'm so sorry, I should have knew what would happen…" she whispered. "And you… Why on earth did you have to shout at her?" Goliath was dumbfounded. "I thought we had agreed, not to tell her the truth?" he asked.

"We hadn't agreed on anything! She must feel lost, poor thing. Maybe there is a way to tell her the truth."

"First, we find her. Then, we'll see." Goliath had the feeling his daughter was loosing sense. Why telling Demie that she _was_ Demona and, above all, _who_ was Demona? Well, he had already had the same problem in Paris, when Angela had wanted to know if Demona was her mother or not. He had refused to tell her the truth because he was sure the naïve girl would be shocked. Well, in fact, she hadn't reacted too badly. But Angela was already in her late teens at that time, while Demie was biologically and intellectually a hatchling. Why would he tell this traumatising news to this child? And what would happen if no one did and if she found out in another way? Big problem.

The phone rang. It was Elisa. "_Goliath?__ There's a Quarrymen rally that is about to begin just in front of me. Can you come? Thank you_." She gave the whole address and father and daughter immediately left the castle. Things were getting crazy.

When Demie regained consciousness, she was in the back of a small van. Her hands and feet were tied to a plank. There was a human man in dark blue clothes watching her. His face was hidden. Who was he? She hissed, her eyes blazing red. "Are you thirsty?" he asked.

"No. I want my mother."

"She will come." He showed her two photos. On one of them, there was Angela and on the other one, there was a female who looked very much like Angela, except that she had blue skin and red hair. "Is she one of these two gargoyles?"

"I must not talk to strangers." Demie was on the verge of tears but she did not want to cry, not in front of that man. The man sighed, took a bottle of water and lifted the hem of his hood to drink. Then he asked again: "Are you thirsty?" And Demie thought about. She was not supposed to accept anything from strangers but this man had already drunk so the bottle contained no poison. "Yes", she said. He moved the plank into vertical position and lifted the bottle so that she could drink easily. "My name is Michael, by the way", he added.

"Michael? What does it mean?"

"I don't know. It was the name of an angel."

"Do angels have names?" He smiled. "And what's your name, little one?"

"Demie. I don't know what it means."

"It's French for half." Mike was feeling more and more uneasy. Fighting an enormous winged monster with the appropriate weapons was relatively easy. Writing articles about those monsters was even easier. But keeping watch on a baby monster who was telling you "I want my mother" while Lenny and Castaway were intending to use it as a lure to attract the adult gargoyle was somehow difficult. What would Castaway do with this hatchling when all the big monsters would be killed? Would he lock it in a secret place for the remaining of its life or would he… Mike shivered. He hoped Castaway did not intend to kill the little one.

A door opened and two hooded men entered the van. One of them took another photo of Demie, who blinked. The other one said with a British accent: "Interesting, indeed! It looks like the Demon has another spawn! Where did she hide?"

"My mother is no demon!" protested Demie. "She will come and she will thrash you!"

"I sure hope so." Castaway lifted the plank and the blue hatchling shouted and tried to break her ties, in vain. Why was he doing this to her? For the first time since her "birth", pure hatred filled the hearth of the little girl.

**A crowd**

Elisa looked up. The shadows on the edge of the rooftops were obviously her friends. They were at least four or five and she had clearly recognized the biggest one as Goliath. She tried to reach the front rows. There was a platform with some Quarrymen in uniform keeping guard. Elisa felt disgusted: the people who were attending the meeting were of any ages, mostly men but there were a lot of women anyway. Some were younger than her. Castaway came onto the platform and was cheered. He asked for silence and four of his followers came, holding a plank. Demie was tied on it, like a criminal in the stocks.

The little girl was clearly terrified. While Castaway was telling about those "monsters who let their own spawn hang about anywhere", she was looking at the crowd. She didn't recognized Elisa because of her blond wig. She felt lost, alone. She just wanted to go back home. But there was no one to help her. And at the same time, she was feeling so angry that she started shouting like mad. "Let me go! LET ME GOOOOOOOOOO!"

The clan was watching the rally from the rooftops. Angela's eyes blazed red. "What are they going to do to her… Let's rescue her!" She was about to go when Hudson grabbed her arm. "That's exactly what they want ye te do, lass." She did not look at him. "Yes. But she's clan."

"And we need a plan to rescue her" objected Goliath.

"A diversion", suggested Brooklyn.

"A blackout?" asked Lexington. He had been smiling stupidly since they had left the castle, which had more or less puzzled Goliath, Hudson, Broadway and Angela. "I know where the nearest electrical substation is. If I manage to turn off the lights of these three or four streets for a little time, you will be able to go down and rescue her. Goliath nodded. "Do that", and the green gargoyle glided away.

Castaway had stopped talking and the crowd was getting tumultuous. Goliath gave his orders: he himself would ensure that Castaway wouldn't prevent the evasion (and would keep an eye on Elisa, but he didn't say it aloud). Angela would free Demie, as she was the one who would most probably turn her into being sensible. Brooklyn, Hudson and Broadway would keep an eye on the other Quarrymen.

All the lights disappeared in the streets. Everyone started shouting. The gargoyles could still see; they glided down to save their child.

"Can't see anything!" shouted Mike to Lenny. He lighted his mobile phone and gaped: there were five adult gargoyles on the platform, enormous, winged, fanged gargoyles! A female was breaking the ties of the hysterical hatchling. She jumped into her arms, crying. "Mother! I knew you would come!"

Lenny was taking photo after photo, completely fascinated and thinking about a Pulitzer Price. Mike was thinking about staying alive. Slowly, he knelt and felt a hammer under his fingers. But he didn't lift it. He couldn't take his eyes of the little girl who was crying her eyes out. "Mother, oh I'm sorry I ran away, bring me back home, they're MAD!" The mother – she couldn't be more than twenty – was holding her protectively, trying to calm her down. The males looked as if if someone tried to harm these two ones, they would rip their heads off.

The gargoyles ran to a wall and started scaling it. Castaway reacted. Why didn't anyone do something? "Attack them!" he shouted before throwing a quarryhammer at them. The hammer hit Goliath's leg and he growled, his eyes blazing white.

"Police! I arrest you!" Castaway turned around and found him facing that cop his brother had become infatuated into. Too late, the monsters had escaped. He crossed his arms. "Why?"

"You endangered the life of innocent citizens. It was dark, this hammer could have hit anybody." Elisa was boiling. Someone had tried to kill her beloved just in front of her.

Lhe lights came back. The leader of the Quarrymen laughed nervously. "You won't put me in jail, detective."

"I bet I will."

**Wyvern**** Castle****, hours later**

It took time for everyone to calm down. Elisa phoned: the police had considered Castaway's thrown hammer as a 'self-defence act', he wouldn't go to jail. She felt sick about it and just wanted to sleep (_but we'll see each other another day_, she added just before Goliath hung up, in a tone of voice that let guess that she wanted more than a simple visit). Angela wondered if she should told off her "daughter" or reassure her, and did both. Hudson was lost in his thoughts.

After two broken glasses, one toy ripped to pieces, a lot of reassuring words, one hour watching _The__ beauty and the beast_, three lullabies, one chocolate ice-cream and two dozen wet handkerchiefs, Demie finally managed to give an explanation. "I'm so sorry, I was angry because you didn't want to tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"Demona. I mean, if I can't remember her…" Hudson sighed. "I suppose you have an idea about who she is?" he asked.

"Well… she is Angela's mother and she lives on Avalon?" Angela smiled. "You nearly got it. I have two mothers. One lives on Avalon and the other one… was Demona."

"So she's my…" she tried to remember the word. "grandmother. Why is it you don't want to tell me about her?"

Angela thought hard and decided to tell the truth. "We didn't get on very well with her. She gave us some problems, she didn't like Elisa. Now she's gone. It happens that you look a bit like her. You have the same coloring."

"But I don't want to become like her!" the child protested. This Demona was surely someone horrible as nobody in the clan liked her! Angela laughed. She kissed her adopted daughter on the forehead and said: "Sure, you won't."

**Epilogue**

"What do you think?" asked Lenny. Mike smiled. "I like this one", he said, showing one of the photos. "You can clearly see the expression of the little girl."

"It's one of my favourites, too. I keep the other ones, just in case. Have you finished with the text?"

"Yes." Mike sighed. "Honestly, I'm not sure any newspaper will accept this kind of article."

"If they don't want it, we will publish it by ourselves! Think of it! "_The real menace_", by Lenny Brandt and Michael Harker."

"You think about glory, I think about doing something right", Michael said happily. "You want to read the text?"

"Read it aloud." Mike cleared his throat. "_'I won't let them harm you, my little angel. Don't worry. Mommy's here.' This young mother is trying in vain to reassure her only child. She is so young, she can't understand why those monsters want to kill her and her whole family, only because they are different. Soon the family escape and the monsters have to renounce. Those merciless killers have a name: they are called the Quarrymen…"_

THE END


	4. Babysitting

All the characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyright Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of NotreDame. I consider The Goliath Chronicles as invalid in the continuity.

Any kind of feedback is welcome and much appreciated.

Many thanks to Hardwing and Storyseeker for their advice and suggestions.

_Four_

_Baby-sitting_

Author: NotreDame ()

**December, the 31st 1996**

There was a happy agitation in the Labyrinth. New Year's Eve was being prepared. With the mutates, the Wyvern Clan, the clones and the Maza family, there was going to be 18 people at dinner, not counting Bronx. So the preparations were taking a long time.

Delilah was putting the plates on the table. She was feeling nervous: it would be the first time she would meet Elisa Maza, one of her artificial mothers. How was it possible that a human was the mother of a gargoyle?

Let's recapitulate: Thailog has created her, so he was her father (and by the way, a father who treated her daughter like a mate and/or a slave was something disgusting, she had been clearly told so). And as Goliath was also Thailog's father, he was her grandfather. And as Angela was Goliath's daughter, she was her aunt. Simple.

On the other hand, her other mother was Demona, and Angela was Demona's daughter. So Angela was her sister. And her aunt. How could she be both her sister and her aunt? Delilah thought about and remembered that an aunt was generally older while a sister was not very much older or younger. So Angela was born 971 years earlier and herself was only a few months old. On the other hand, her aunt/sister looked 19, that was a few years younger than her apparent age.

No way to decide. Her family tree was probably full of knots.

At that moment, Claw entered the room, holding a sigh language method in one hand (he had decided to improve his methods of communication) and closely followed by Brentwood and Malibu. All were carrying odd chairs. The partly human clone stepped back and looked at the table thoughtfully. "Perhaps we could some flowers on it", she said.

"Good idea", said a voice just behind her. She turned her head and saw Talon, a tired but quite happy look on his face. "I'll phone my sisters to ask them if they can bring some." This reminded Delilah that Elisa Maza also had siblings and she started calculating the family links again.

Derek/Talon was looking forward to see his whole family, but on the other hand, he was starting to wonder if bringing the four families together was really a good idea. How would Elisa and Delilah react in front of each other? He himself could hardly get used to this gargoyle version of his elder sister (with less brain). And knowing how Elisa felt about Demona, she would possibly be embarrassed. And Delilah, his "niece", hadn't asked to be a clone. She was a genuinely nice person and would probably be the first to be uneasy if there was an accident.

And the first time the clan had encountered the clones, they had considered them as too "creepy" to live with them in the clock tower. He had discovered later that the clones had been hurt. They also had a heart, after all.

And it would be the first time Demie would leave the castle after her encounter with the Quarrymen. According to Angela, she had been deeply traumatised. How could a traumatised child react in an unusual situation? And there was the fact that Demie had been Demona. The clones knew nothing about it. He had warned his family about all the 'things to know'. Maggie had recapitulated everything and sent a note to all the ones who could read:

Don't mention Thailog. Don't talk about genealogy in front of Delilah. Don't make fun of the clones, they are not that stupid. Never mention Castaway or the Quarrymen in front of Demie (beware: gargoyles have very good ears). Never mention Demona. We told Demie that her turning human by day was caused by a miscast spell from Alex. Stick to this lye.

**A street near an entrance**

"This is true?" Beth asked her sister in a low voice while putting her note in a pocket. "This kid Demie is in fact…"

"Yes. And from now on, don't mention it any more, she could hear you."

"Wow. I wish my anthropology teacher could be turned into a tot." Elisa smiled in spite of herself. "Don't say that. I saw the parents of the lab assistant who… suffers from the same disease yesterday. Poor ones."

"I read an article about them in the newspaper. _'A tragic work accident – Valeria goes to kindergarten at 27'_." Both sisters cringed. "There was also an article about this pro-gargoyle association, what's the name…"

"The PIT, People for Interspecies Tolerance. It was founded just after Demie was rescued from the Quarrymen. Funny: Demona created the Hunters, Demie created the PIT."

"Who's mentioning forbidden topics, now?" Elisa smiled again and looked at her clock. "It's time, now", she said. Go first, I join you in five minute." Beth nodded and hurried to the entrance.

A few minutes later, Elisa entered the Labyrinth. She was the last one to arrive. Everyone was either talking or finishing preparing the feast. Elisa greeted Goliath first, then her brother, then Maggie, then her father, then her mother who was answering Angela's questions about how to raise a child. Then she went to Claw and tried in vain to understand his sign language, patted a silent Demie on her head, did the same with Bronx, said hello to Brooklyn, Hudson and Lexington who were trying to fix the television and entered the kitchen to greet Broadway.

He was explaining Delilah how to prepare gravy when he saw her. They hugged but Elisa was feeling suddenly less cheerful. This woman looked so much like her! Same features, same skin color… but she had Demona's body. Elisa forced herself to smile and said: "Hi, you must be Delilah?"

"Yes. You Elisa, Talon's sister?"

"Yes I am."

"He told me lot about you." At that point, Derek entered the kitchen. He saw the embarrassed look on Delilah's face. According to Maggie, she was still uneasy with grammar and she felt a bit ashamed when she had to talk in front of a stranger. "Delilah, Maggie wants to talk to you", he said at random.

A few minutes later, Delilah understood that Talon had deliberately lied to her. Why? because he didn't want his so great and so clever sister to be annoyed by her own stupidity? Delilah wanted to cry. Everyone was considering her as a mistake. There was no place for her.

Then there was the dinner. Everyone had started to act more cheerfully but Demie couldn't help yawning from time to time. This was so boring and there was so much weird food! The male clones were playing videogames in the next room and Delilah was watching them, wondering if someone would laugh at her if she told him/her that she wanted to learn how to read. Demie got up and went to sit on the cough with the clones. The cushions were soft and warm and she felt asleep…

She made a nightmare. She was in the castle but it was not over its usual building. It was in a country landscape and she was looking at a pile of rumble. One of the stones looked like a face. A dead gargoyle! She felt sad, terrified and she started to shout.

The little girl opened her eyes. Her forehead was wet and cold but someone was holding her protectively. "It's all right, sweetheart", said her mother's soft voice. "It was that nasty nightmare again?"

"No." She hadn't made the Quarrymen dream, for once. "It was… I don't know what it was."

"It's over, now. We are eating the dessert, do you want some?" Demie nodded and followed Angela into the common room.

Brooklyn was the first to leave. He was enjoying himself but he said that he just wanted to make a short patrol, just in case. "You never know, with all those drunk people, an accident may happen…" He glided away to the place he used to go.

A few minutes passed. Then the usual fireball appeared…

**Elisa's apartment, much later**

There was no one in the apartment, except for Cagney, who was sleeping.

Then the phone rang. Then a message was heard on the answering machine. '_Elisa? It's Matt. I know I shouldn't phone you at that time and day but I just got a phone call of the Gregarinos. They say Valeria is starting behaving strangely. I'm afraid the same thing could… well, call me as soon as you can.'_

A few minutes later, the door opened and Elisa entered her home, closely followed by Beth and Demie, who was hidden under several layers of clothing.

It was going to be a baby-sitting night. The Xanatoses were spending New Year's Eve abroad. As the clan couldn't take care of Demie by day, Elisa had accepted to have her at her home for a day. She and Beth would relay at her side.

Demie was not sleepy any more. She was curious about seeing this place where she had never been. The first thing she noticed was the drawing over Elisa's bed. "You still have it?" she asked. "Oh, it's beautiful", added Beth (it was definitely not her first baby-sitting). "Can I have another one like it?" Demie agreed and a few minutes later, she was drawing.

It was exactly what the sisters had hoped: this way they could talk more freely. "You will sleep first and you will take care of her at morning, OK?" asked the elder one.

"Ok, don't worry." Beth didn't want to say it aloud but she was really looking forward to see the hatchling turn into a human. "How is your love life, by the way?"

"How is yours?" hurriedly answered Elisa. She felt a bit embarrassed about telling her sister about her and Goliath. "This Sam?"

"We are friends, nothing more", said the youngest Maza in a tone that let guess that there was something else than pure friendship. "And you?"

"Only friends? You're joking."

"And you? There's something you don't want to tell me, sis." Elisa sighed. "Ok, I tell you about my boyfriend, you tell me about your Sam." She bent over and whispered something in her sister's ear. Beth opened wide eyes. "Are you serious? It's beautiful!"

"You don't mind about the… species difference?" Elisa asked incredulously. Beth laughed. "We are already half-Black and half-Indian, why would I mind? He made me a good impression from the beginning, you know. Well, it seems that the family is prone to mixings."

"Does it mean that Sam is a Caucasian?"

A sudden noise made them jump. Demie had fallen asleep on her drawing and the box of pencils had fallen on the floor. Silently, the two sisters laid the hatchling on the cough, went into the bedroom and put on their nightdresses. "Tell me first if you have already done it with Goliath", giggled Beth. "I mean, is it physically possible?"

"Yes it is. And he doesn't have bad breath, as opposed to some humans."

"It doesn't hurt?" Elisa blushed, turned off the light and whispered: "He has a small one, proportionally. Now, tell me about your Sam. Have you done it yet?"

Before Beth had time to answer, they heard someone whimpering. It was Demie. Silently, both sisters came back into the other room and saw the hatchling talking in her sleep. "I'll kill you, puny creature", she said, her back arched, her fists clenched. "If I can't get rid of all of them, I'll get rid of you, no matter how much time it will take…"

Elisa got very pale. The sleeping Demie sounded so much like Demona that it was getting really scary. "Jalapeña", she whispered before her sister ushered her back into her room.

**Same place, much later.**

Beth woke up at 7:30. She tried to stay in her bed for a moment but she knew that she wouldn't find sleep back so she got up, had a shower, dressed up and made a cup of coffee. Her sister would probably wake up very late and Demie was still sleeping on the cough. Beth wondered what hatchlings ate for breakfast. She herself was not hungry after the feast of the previous evening.

The coffee was good but it also tasted abnormally sugary. Beth didn't like sugar in her coffee. She wondered why she had put some and decided to make herself another mug. At that moment, the phone rang. She hung up. "Hello?"

"Elisa, it's you?" asked a male voice. "No, it's her sister (she wondered who could phone that early). Elisa is sleeping. Can I take a message for her?"

"Yes, I am Matt Bluestone, her partner. Could you tell her at the earliest that she must phone me back?" (suddenly Beth started coughing with no reason) "It's very important."

"Yes… no problem, I'll tell her" the student managed to say. She hung the phone and turned around to discover that Demie was watching her. "Hi", she said. Are you…" Beth fell on her knees. The room was turning around her. "Tell Elisa to come!" she managed to say. "I'm… not…" Demie put her head under her blanket and started shouting. She couldn't stand that sight.

Beth remembered the description of the accident Elisa had seen. A lab assistant turned into a tot by a poisoned coffee…  She put a hand at her breasts and noted that they were getting smaller. She was shrinking! She tried to crawl to the bathroom.

Elisa burst out of the bedroom. Her eyes got wide in horror. Immediately, she phoned the medical service, then followed her sister into the bathroom. She was vomiting over the loo. She had shrunk by about six inches. Elisa wiped her face with a towel. "Hold on, sis, I called the hospital, they will be there in one minute." Beth nodded, managed to say: "Don't… drink… coffee" and half fainted. Elisa laid her on the floor and came back into the room where Demie was still lying on the couch.

Elisa felt a sudden surge of rage. Her sister had been poisoned! She should never have let Demona enter her home. She ran at her and slapped the hatchling's face, who started to cry. "Now, you're going to listen to me, witch", she said, grabbing her by the wrists to prevent her from scratching her. "I don't know how you've been doing that but you're going to pay for it. And first…" She thought hard. She couldn't call the police, the gargoyles would be frozen in stone for the whole day, the Xanatoses were not in town and she would never let her parents baby-sit Demie after what had just happened but she knew a sure place to lock the hatchling. She looked through the window: it was still dark.

"I'm going to call my brother and you will spend the day in the Labyrinth while I take Beth to the hospital. And if you ever try to harm my family again…" Elisa tried to get a grip on herself. She couldn't hit a child and her sister was going to need her. "I'll make you pay." Elisa walked to the phone and dialled a number.

Suddenly, the hatchling jumped at her, her eyes turning red, and tried to scratch her again. Elisa managed to control her, throw her into a closet and locked the door. She went back to the phone, feeling nearly hysterical. "Derek? Big problem. You must come immediately, take Demona in my closet and watch on her. Problem with Beth, no time to explain. Please, help me!"

**Castle Wyvern, sunset.**

Goliath awoke to find Elisa at his side, which often happened. The surprising thing was that her father was at her side. Both looked tired and anxious. "Elisa…" asked the leader of the Wyvern Clan. Elisa didn't let him finish. "Goliath, we have a problem. Someone has been poisoning my sister, and I think it is Demona."

"What?" nearly shouted Goliath. Everyone had circled the two humans. "Is she all right, lass?" asked Hudson. "She's at the hospital now. The doctor says she didn't swallow enough chemical to have full effect. She was unconscious last time I saw her", explained Peter Maza. "Another problem is, Elisa will be probably accused of having poisoned Beth."

"Ridiculous!" said Angela before remembering about her clan daughter. "Where's Demie, by the way?"

"What's ridiculous?" Elisa asked sharply.

"This accusation. One doesn't poison one's own sister!"

"The thing is, who's done this to her? We were only three in my apartment, it can only be…"

"Don't accuse her!" interrupted Angela, her eyes briefly blazing red. "She's a child, she wouldn't have done such a thing!"

"A child? A one-thousand-years-old child, yes! You should have seen her, yesterday, talking in her sleep about slaying someone!" answered Elisa, feeling more and more angry. Goliath took her by her arm, gesturing her to calm down while Broadway was doing the same with Angela. The latter remembered – just in time – how much she looked like her mother when she got angry and tried to calm down. "Well… I'm deeply sorry for your sister", she said. "I would surely react like you if one of my sisters was attacked but do you have proof that it is Demie who poisoned her?"

Elisa didn't answer. It was Peter Maza who explained that the police was at Elisa's apartment, checking everything. "So we moved your… mother to the Labyrinth", he finally said. "I'd like you to talk to her, maybe it would clear up things." Angela agreed. The clan would go with her, just in case. Elisa hesitated, then decided to be present, too. She could go and visit her sister later. "Phone me if there's something new about Beth", she told her father just before they parted apart.

**The Labyrinth**

Demie was sitting on a bed, in a locked cell, hugging herself. She didn't understand why everyone was suddenly so mean. Elisa had gotten angry after her. She had even slapped her and locked her in a dark place. Talon had gotten angry too, telling something complicated about sisters, family and bad behaviour. Even Maggie had refused to let her go out and watch television. It was so unfair.

And there had been the accident. The lady had hung up and fallen sick all of a sudden. She had shrunk and Elisa had acted as if if was her fault. And this shrinking… Demie had the feeling she had already seen it before. But it was so awful, as if she was having a nightmare.

The door of the cell made an opening sound. A male voice whispered something. "Oh please father, I know what I'm doing", Angela's voice answered. Then someone embraced her. Demie didn't react. "Sweetie? Are you all right?" Demie didn't answer. "Tell me what happened please."

"Mother, I want to go back home."

Angela looked at the clan. Goliath shook his head. Elisa and Derek seemed to approve. "I'm afraid it won't be possible, dear."

"I did not poison Bess!"

"Do you know who did it?" Demie shook her dead and buried her face into her clan mother's chest, crying. Angela sighed. "I'll stay with her until we know who did it", she announced.

"How very touching!" said a mad voice. It was Fang, who had been listening from his cell. Demie straightened herself and shouted: "mind your own business!" In spite of herself, Demona's daughter shivered. She had already been in a situation that looked nearly the same: Demona had completely manipulated her. She hoped desperately that this time, things would be different.

**Hospital**

Dr Sato entered the room where Peter and Diane Maza were sitting by their daughter's bed. Surprisingly enough, she had stopped rejuvenating at the apparent age of twelve and was now looking at recent photos her parents had brought to her. "Derek at the Labyrinth", she said, pointing at one photo. "When was it taken?"

"At his last birthday", her mother answered

"Another thing I can't remember."

"That's normal, you were at the college. You just sent him a present by mail."

"And who is the girl with him?" Diane sighed. Beth could remember some events but had forgotten a lot of others. "It's Maggie", she said. "His girlfriend."

"He's not with Ellen any more? Wait, I know. They broke up when he was… wait, wait, wait. Twenty. She… oh, shit, can't remember."

"She found a job in England."

"I have the feeling I have an Alzheimer" little Beth said jokingly. Her parents smiled in spite of themselves.

The door opened and Elisa entered. Her parents came and hugged her. She whispered: "nothing new", then walked to her sister's bed. She recognized the child she knew eight years before, when she herself was a teenager, looking at her with a serious expression. She felt disgusted. It was the second time one of her siblings was getting through a painful metamorphosis. And Beth had never hurt a fly.

"Do I look that bad?" the pre-teenage girl asked.

"Well… I don't know. I'm sorry, sis, this poison was probably targeted at me."

"I'm sure it's not your fault, even if I can't remember what exactly happened" she said reassuringly. "It seems that I kept the most ancient and most intense memories in priority. How did the… accident happen?"

"Apparently, someone has put a dangerous product in your coffee." Elisa sighed. At that moment, a nurse entered the room. "Time for visits is over", she said. Everyone protested but anyway, the visitors had to leave the room.

Great, thought Beth. How will everyone react when I will go back to the college, looking like a kid? Worst of all, what will Sam think? I can't be the girlfriend of anybody with a body like this one! And I can't remember what I have been studying last year, or the previous year. I can't remember the university, only Sam. Am I going to be forced to stay at home? To lose one year, to lose my scholarship?

To lose my whole life? Will I remain like this forever? Beth buried her face into the pillow and started crying. Everything was crumbling around her.

A noise averted her that someone had entered the room through the window. She turned her face and saw a dark, winged shadow. "Hi, bro", she said, trying to sound careless. "A bit late for a visit, don't you think?"

"It was not dark enough before", he said apologetically, sitting on her bed. "And honestly, I prefer to be alone with you."

"You're afraid to end up in a zoo?" she said teasingly. She regretted the joke immediately but he didn't seem to mind. "Well, you'll visit me in the zoo when you'll leave the primary school."

Beth was dumbfounded. Then, for the first time in hours, she burst into laughter. It was good to exchange jokes, even bad ones. She realized that Derek was probably the only person who would know how it felt to be locked into a foreign body and she felt nearly happy. "I've lost a lot of my memories", she said.

"I know that. Don't worry, we will make you find them back." Talon was still angry after whoever had poisoned his little sister but told him that angriness was probably not the priority. He took the photos that were still on the bed and they started working on them.

**The Labyrinth**

Angela was reading in the cell, looking at her silent clan daughter from time to time. The hatchling was drawing something that looked like a man with a hammer. There were half a dozen drawings on the floor of the cell: gargoyles, humans and mostly hooded humans attacking gargoyles. Demie was still feeling traumatised by her bad experience with the Quarrymen. Angela started wondering if raising a hatchling in a city like New-York was really a good idea. But where to send her? Avalon? She tried to reject the idea. She didn't want to be separated from her. And she didn't want to go back to Avalon.

Maggie appeared in front of the cell, holding a tray and told Angela that dinner was ready. Angela accepted gratefully: she hadn't eaten anything since sunset. While coming back to the bed with her tray, she noticed a drawing that didn't look like the other ones. It represented a redhead human girl and another girl that seemed somehow familiar to Demie's clan mother. She had light brown skin, dark hair and was wearing blue jeans and a red shirt, or jacket, and her face was absent. They seemed to be fighting. "What is it on this drawing, sweetie?" she asked.

"Me and the evil one."

"Which evil one?"

"I see her when I sleep. She attacks me. Once she told me "you fight like a rocky". What is a rocky?"

"A movie, I think." Angela was feeling more and more worried. Were Demie's memories about being Demona coming back? Was she going to hate Elisa again? To hate all humans? Was she going to realize that she was in fact a grown gargoyle in a hatchling's body? How was she possibly going to react?

"Tell me when you see this lady again", asked Angela. "You want to eat?" Demie nodded. On the tray, there were two plates and two mugs. "What is written on that one?" asked Demie. Angela answered and started to feed her foster daughter. She felt more and less impressed. Demie already wanted to read? Well, maybe it was hereditary: she herself had been able to read before most of her rookery siblings. Or did she remember that she could read?

When she thought about it, the hatchling had been maturing very fast lately. Angela didn't know if this was normal. Maybe she was just very precocious. The elder gargoyle looked at her better and wondered if she hadn't grown up a bit. Half an inch, maybe? Was it possible? What did it mean?

**23rd precinct**

Captain Chavez was lost in her thoughts. How could Maza get herself in such impossible situations? She regularly lost her guns and had unexplainably disappeared during six months. She had managed to shot herself with her own weapon in her apartment. Her brother had unexplainably disappeared and was still missing. She had witnessed Ms Gregarino being turned into a four-year-old. And now the same thing was happening with her own sister. Maza was a case.

Yes, she was a very good cop. Her partner trusted her and she had already put under arrest more criminals than the average detective but nobody really knew about her methods. Well, there would be no proof that she had poisoned her own sister: according to her family, they got on very well together, this kind of perverse plot did not look like her and even if she had disliked her sister, she was not stupid enough to poison her in her own apartment. No proof, no mobile.

On the other hand, who had put the chemical in Beth Maza's coffee? And where had this person found that chemical?

Elisa was asking herself the same questions when she stopped in front of the precinct. The night was going to be very long. Someone called her, she turned around and saw Matt Bluestone, running and panting. "Hullo Elisa", he said. "I know about your sister. I'm sorry."

"Thank you. You know, I think someone tried to… valoo me, not Beth. I…" Elisa stopped. Matt was a friend but she couldn't tell him how awful she felt, they were not close enough. Seeing her embarrassed look, he quickly said: "maybe there's hope for her. I tried to phone you several times. The Gregarinos told me Valeria has grown up by nearly an inch since her accident. She seems to remember some things, too. So perhaps the effects of the VAL001 are not permanent."

Elisa felt a surge of hope. Her sister could be healed! She couldn't wait to tell the good news to her family. Then she remembered that Demona had been valooed, to. So Demona could come back…

.**The Labyrinth**

"Angela, can I talk to you?"

The lavender female nodded, told Demie to wait and followed Broadway outside the cell. He hugged her briefly and they moved as far as possible, not to be heard by the hatchling. Broadway was really embarrassed by the situation. "I'm sorry this has happened", he said.

"You don't have to be sorry" she said, kissing him on the cheek. "It's not your fault."

"Angela… Goliath has told me to tell you that Elisa told him that her apartment has been checked. The only fingerprints they found belonged to Elisa and her sister. There were Demie, too, but they were so unclear that they thought they were very ancient. Oh, and the inside of her closet was a mess but they supposed it was the cat.

"Does Elisa think it must be Demie? The culprit may have used gloves."

"It's not Demie. They found chemical in all the mugs and they were on the highest shelf. Some well behind the others. A hatchling couldn't reach them."

Angela smiled briefly, and then her face became serious again. "It doesn't tell us who did that to Beth. Poor girl… Do we know if she will be all right?"

"Goliath told me that Elisa told him… well, she has reached a stable point and she is less affected than your mother." He saw Angela cringing. "What's the matter, my angel?"

Angela decided to tell him. "I think we'll have another problem with Demie."

**Castle Wyvern**

Goliath came back from patrol at the same time as Hudson and Lexington. As the eldest gargoyle went to sit in front of the television and the web-winged one dashed to the computer, he couldn't help thinking he was feeling alone. Elisa was still at the precinct, Angela and Broadway were in the Labyrinth, Brooklyn was late, as usual, he always came back late lately, and Bronx… was Bronx.

He was uneasy, too. He had seen Elisa and Angela shouting at each other, and they had always got on very well. He didn't want to stand up for anybody. Beth's poisoning was unfair and he knew very well how Elisa could feel, seeing her beloved sister threatened. He knew too well how it was, to lose a sibling. And on the other hand, it was perfectly normal that Angela protected her child, it was in-keeping with Gargoyle ways. And it had been proven that Demie was not the culprit. How could all this evolve? Was his beloved Elisa going to be put into jail?

Goliath was completely lost in his thoughts when the phone rang. He hung up, hoping to hear Elisa. Instead, there was a deep voice he knew too well. _"Hello, father?"_

"Thailog!" How was this possible? Thailog was dead! Had Sevarius created another clone? _"Yes, it's me, father. Surprised?"_  At that moment, Brooklyn entered the room, his face scared. Goliath gestured him to gather the clan members who were in the castle and carried on. "What… why are you here? What do you want?"

_"You want your friend Elisa to be a grown-up again. But the thing is, I modified the chemical to make its effects permanent. Let's make a deal. I give you the antidote. You give me one million dollars. Oh, and I feel alone in my little bed, give me Delilah back too. Or give me your daughter. No, when I think of it, I'm fed up with clever females. Give me Delilah."_

"WHAT?" shouted Goliath.

_"You heard me. I have the antidote."_ A mad laughter echoed in the phone.

_To be continued…_


	5. Father and daughter

All the characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyright Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of NotreDame. I consider The Goliath Chronicles as invalid in the continuity.

Any kind of feedback is welcome and much appreciated.

Many thanks to Hardwing and Storyseeker for their advice and suggestions.

_Four_

_Father and Daughter_

Author: NotreDame ()

Previously, on _Gargoyles_:

Thailog: "Look familiar, my ex-love? I combined your DNA with that of the human, Elisa Maza, to create Delilah. She's the perfect programmed companion, obedient and lovely. She'll do anything for me. Destroy them, Delilah."

Delilah: "As you command."

"_The Reckoning_"

Mike sighed. "Honestly, I'm not sure any newspaper will accept this kind of article."

"If they don't want it, we will publish it by ourselves! Think of it! "_The real menace_", by Lenny Brandt and Michael Harker."

"You think about glory, I think about doing something right", Michael said happily.

"_The longest night_"

A few minutes later, Delilah understood that Talon had deliberately lied to her. Why? because he didn't want his so great and so clever sister to be annoyed by her own stupidity? Delilah wanted to cry. Everyone was considering her as a mistake. There was no place for her.

"_Baby-sitting_"

**Late January, 1997**

Demie was growing up. It had become obvious. She had taken more than one inch and was complaining of pains in the bones. According to the Gregarinos, the same thing was happening to Valeria. It was slightly disturbing: everyone had gotten used to little Demie and seeing Demona coming back was not exactly what they had hoped.

Angela was feeling extra apprehensive. Demie was still having nightmares and they were not only about the Quarrymen. She sometimes mentioned about the 'evil one', the girl who looked a bit like Elisa on her drawings. And sometimes she talked about things a four-year-old child could not have witnessed. It was probably the television, those history programs, or at least that was what Angela hoped.

One night the hatchling fell asleep on a cough. Lexington and Brooklyn, who were chatting on the P.I.T. website in the next room, heard her talking in her sleep. It was not English. It was a language they didn't know. She was shouting, as if she was insulting someone. Then she said something in _Latin_. And then she woke up. None of the two rookery brothers had understood what she had just said but it sounded like a curse. And it was no good.

On the other hand, Beth hadn't made any progress. She hadn't go back to Arizona and had to stay at her parents all day, which she didn't enjoy. Every day, she was reading the newspapers, browsing the internet to learn what had happened in the previous years and fill the gaps in her memories. She regularly tried to make her college homework but always had to give up too soon: with a twelve-year-old cleverness, she couldn't cope with university tasks. She was probably a very clever pre-teenage girl but it was simply not enough.

Whenever she could, she spent time in the Labyrinth. She felt more at home with her mutate brother and his friends than with her own parents. He finally told her about Thailog's proposal. The knowledge that the chemical (the VAL002) was making her remaining a child depressed her but on the other hand, she approved the general refusal to use Delilah a bargaining chip. Sex slavery? No one could possibly deserve that!

Life was weird. She had been the 'normal' sibling in the Maza family but it seemed that this time was over. What was going to happen next?

**Eyrie building**

It was not yet sunset. Elisa was wondering why Xanatos had asked her to come. Although the gargoyles lived in this place and in spite of the fact that the gargoyles had allied with him to protect both Alex and Demie, she still found it difficult to trust him. He had mutated Derek, after all, changing his life forever. He had turned all the town against the gargoyles, kidnapped Hudson to use him as a guinea-pig… the list was so long that Elisa preferred, not to think too much about it.

Demie – no, Dominique – entered the room, a serious look on her face. Apparently, she still hadn't completely forgiven the detective for attacking her, although Elisa had apologized several times. "He will come", she said. "What kind of person was my grandmother?"

"I never knew her very much" Elisa said hesitantly. Demie frowned and left the room sulkily. Then Xanatos entered it. "Detective Maza", he said, "I want to tell you that I'm sorry about what happened to your sister."

"So am I." Elisa had heard so many sympathy messages that she was getting slightly annoyed. "Is it the only reason why you made me coming here?"

"No. I have a question. Do you have access to the chemical that was found in your mugs?"

"It's an exhibit. Why?" she asked suspiciously.

"I can hire the best scientists in the world so that they find an antidote to the VAL002. But I think their work would be more efficient if they had the original chemical."

Elisa started to feel interested, puzzled and shocked. "Why would you do that?" she asked. "Knowing what you have already done in the past…"

"To your brother, I know. Well, I can look for a way to cure your brother, too. So you will have a family worthy of the name."

"I HAVE a family worthy of the name" nearly shouted Derek and Beth's sister. She would always have affection for her siblings, whatever they would look like. They had always been decent and honest, and one could definitely not tell the same thing about Xanatos. The multi-billionaire sighed inwardly. To have his son perfectly safe, he had to be completely trusted by the gargoyles. To be trusted by the gargoyles, he had to be trusted by Elisa Maza. And to be trusted by her, he was trying to help her family. What to do if she refused the help? "Detective Maza, maybe your siblings would prefer to be turned like they were before. But I understand if you prefer to wait before giving me your answer."

Elisa looked through the window. The sun was about to set. "I'd like to talk to the clan", she said, which was a way to put an end to the conversation. She didn't know what to think or do. Xanatos was not someone trustworthy. But if Derek and Beth could be cured, why would she refuse?

In the corridor, she met a sulky Dominique who had put on her gargoyle outfit. It was a new one: her previous tunic had been getting a bit too small. "Listen, Demie", she said. "I told you I was sorry for the closet. Will you be angry at me forever?"

The child looked at her, her face unreadable, and hurried toward the courtyard.

**A street in Manhattan**

Mike Harker was driving his friend Lenny back home. Mike was feeling a bit moody. He had got fired from his previous job after his pro-gargoyle article and hadn't managed to get another job in a newspaper. He and Lenny had become freelance but it wasn't paid very well. Lenny was still confident in the fact that one day, he would take the photo that would make him rich and famous. According to Mike, he was living in a dream.

They stopped at a traffic light. Lenny pushed Mike's elbow. "Hey, Mike, garg just behind us." Mike jumped. Lenny was a bit of an idiot, he had no common sense but he also had a gift for noticing every invisible detail. "Where?" he asked. "Can we catch him?" Lenny nodded. "Turn left."

Mike started driving the car across New-York, guided by Lenny's instructions. He hoped he would be able to talk to a gargoyle. He would introduce himself as the P.I.T.'s official journalist. Then, maybe he would be able to interview the whole clan and then…

Lenny said: "He's here. On top of this disused building." They left the car and looked up. Mike couldn't see anything. "Are you sure…" Lenny didn't let him finish. He checked that no one was around, broke a window and entered. Mike followed him reluctantly. They lighted their mobile phones and saw an empty room. They found stairs and reached the upper levels. They finally heard a noise behind a door: someone was humming. Lenny wanted to run at this person but Mike held him back. Better have a look before.

The room was lighted by the full moon and there was a female gargoyle standing in the middle of it. Surprisingly enough, it was neither the little girl, nor her lavender mother, nor the blue one Castaway called the Demon. This gargoyle was in her mid-twenties, tan-colored with white hair and very human-looking features. Sharp-eyed Lenny noticed her shy expression, like the one of a little girl. He tried to go to her but Mike gestured him to stay where he was. This was going to be interesting.

The clones had always been told by Thailog that if they ever got a problem with the outside world, they would have to stay in this building, in the room with the hidden camera, and he would come and rescue them. Even Demona didn't know about it. Delilah hadn't told Burbank, Malibu, Hollywood or Brentwood that she was going to come here. Now she regretted it a bit.

In fact, she quite liked her life in the Labyrinth. Everyone was nice to her, even though she was bloody stupid. She liked Talon, and Maggie, and Claw, it was probably a bit like a family. And recently there had been this accident. She had to avow it to herself, she had been a bit jealous: all the attention had been drawn to Beth and she had felt less important. But Beth, her 'aunt', was nice to her, too, and had never made fun of her stupidity. She couldn't reproach her for having been poisoned.

And one evening, she had awoken and heard Talon and Maggie talking somewhere. They were saying that Thailog had poisoned Beth and that he wanted Delilah as a bargaining chip. What a shock. She had thought about it during three whole days and then she had decided to go to Thailog and bring back the antidote. It was the right thing to do. And perhaps this way she would be a little more appreciated by the Labyrinth clan.

Now the more time passed, the more anxious she felt. She really wanted to see Thailog but at the same time, she was afraid. She loved him. He was logically her father, the first and perhaps the only person who had ever paid attention to her. But at the same time, he was insane. He had tried to kill people she liked several times. He had destroyed her aunt's life. She loved him. And she hated him at the same time.

A shadow entered the room. She straightened herself. It was him and her heart jumped. He was the same as usual, dark-skinned, white-haired and hollow-voiced. "Hello Delilah", he said. She nearly called him 'Master' out of a habit. "Hello, father", she said with a trembling voice.

"You come back to me?" She shook her head. "No. I want the antidote to the VAL002, father." He laughed. "And what gives you the right to ask it to me?"

"Give it." She tried to find her words but she had been told that she was silly so many times that she had finally taken for granted that she couldn't make a real sentence. "Honestly, child, why do you want to stay with those people? They don't even like you!"

"They nice to me."

"They laugh about you as soon as your back is turned. I missed you, beloved. I missed you so much. Why did you run away? I was so unhappy without you!" The partly human cloned tried hard, not to listen to her creator but every word was like a burn in her heart. A grown-up would have laughed at these blatant lies but Delilah was chronologically, intellectually and emotionally a child, a little girl who hears her daddy telling her that she has hurt him. Tears were flowing out of her eyes. She had to slap herself mentally. "Beth… not… deserve… illness" she managed to say. "Give me."

"Beth?"

"You poisoned other sister. And no one deserved that." Thailog thought about. He had reached the wrong target, apparently. But it didn't matter: the result would be the same. He would have Delilah and he could still come back for Elisa, Goliath and the other ones later. "Go back to me and I'll send them the antidote" he said.

"No. I want it now" she stuttered. Softly, he wiped away her tears. "They make you so unhappy that you're crying, now. Go back to me. You won't regret it." He kissed her on the mouth and she jumped back. She had never enjoyed his kisses and his other 'special gestures' and now she understood why. "A father not kisses his daughter this way!" she shouted.

From behind their door, Mike and Lenny were beginning to wonder what kind of mad joke was going on. Incest? And who were those gargoyles? The big male laughed. "Is it what those gargoyles and mutates told you? They don't know what's good for you, child. They despise you. And I bet they lied to you, too? Did they tell you that you could read, write, have ideas on your own, this kind of stuff?" The tan-colored female looked away. "They manipulated you to make you their slave."

Slave? That was exactly the word Maggie had used to describe the relationship Thailog had imposed to her! "_No slavery is normal_", she had said. "_See, Broadway treats his girlfriend as an equal, and so does Goliath with Elisa and Derek with me. A father has no right to treat his children like things, too. Goliath sometimes gives orders to his daughter but it is because he is the leader of his clan. He respects her, he doesn't treat her like a slave_." Delilah's eyes blazed with anger. "YOU treated me like a slave" she shouted before hitting him hard in the face.

He fell on his back. She jumped at him, ready to strike again. But she didn't.

She could hit him, again and again. But something was preventing her to do so. He was... He was her father! She still loved him, in spite of herself. She knew he had been treating her worse than a bitch but she couldn't help longing for his affection. She was a child. She just needed her father's love.

Thailog opened his eyes and saw the troubled look in his creation's eyes. His heart filled with contempt. She would always be a hatchling, a weak, stupid creature, unable to take a single decision by herself. Then he looked a little lower and smiled slightly. He had a perfect view on her breasts, which were round and full. A child in a woman's body, perfect curves and no brains at all, what could he dream that would be better? She belonged to him, he knew it. He drew his hand to reach her cleavage and she got up quickly to avoid the contact. There was instinctive fear in her eyes and he was gloating about this fear. "The body is mine", she said.

"No, it's mine. I've created it."

"It's mine" she managed to say after a few seconds. "I have one, you have one. It is fair."

"I'll be so sad if you refuse to give it to me" he said tearfully. "So sad…"

"YOU LIAR!" she suddenly shouted, trying to hit him again. He avoided the punch but rage was flowing about of her. Perhaps she had inherited a bit of Demona's temper. "LIAR! IF I REFUSE YOU MAKE ANOTHER CLONE SLAVE! MONSTER! MONSTER! I HATE YOU!" She shouted like mad, trying to hit him again and again. From behind the door, Mike had his heart in his boots. He tried to pull Lenny back but his friend was only taking photos silently, hoping he would be able to fix them in spite of the lack of light.

Suddenly the male gargoyle managed to push back the female, put some kind of a metal mask on his face and threw something on the floor. Gas erupted and filled the room. Instinctively, Mike turned back and ran down the stairs, completely terrified.

He entered his car and remembered about his photograph friend. Poor Lenny… even the worst bubblehead didn't deserve to be possibly threatened by those weird gargoyles. Mike remembered he still had a quarryhammer in his car, stolen to the Quarrymen. He took it and came back into the building.

But the two gargoyles had disappeared. And so had Lenny.

**The Labyrinth**

Most of the dwellers were asleep. Claw was sitting alone, reading his sign language method. He had not time to do it during the day, there was too many things to do.

Someone coughed behind him. He turned back: it was Burbank. "Sorry to disturb you but Delilah disappeared. She nowhere to be seen. Do you know where she is?" The tiger mutate shook his head. "Perhaps Talon or Maggie know?" Claw shrugged. When he was thinking about it, Delilah had been behaving a bit strangely lately. He had seen her coming close to Talon several times, as if she wanted to ask him a question, then going away without a word. He said with his hands: "stay here, I'm going to ask someone." After half a minute, the clone understood and let the mutate go.

A few minutes later, the Labyrinth leader was asking the clones about where Delilah could possibly be. No one knew. Brentwood had seen her drawing something a few hours ago but it was not unusual: she regularly drew family trees in her free time. Her last picture looked like three round diagrams. It didn't make any sense to Talon.

"I think these are clocks", explained Maggie. "I tried to teach the clones to read time last week. They are brilliant" she added (she always tried to encourage them).

"And what do you think the square thing at the bottom is?"

"Well… it looks like a building."

"It looks like the meeting building" added Hollywood. "Our mas… Thailog told us to meet him in this place if we had a problem." The mutates looked at each other. They hadn't told the clones that Thailog was alive. Delilah was probably in the meeting building but knowing Thailog, it could be a trap aimed at them. What to do? The clones noticed their worried looks. "Delilah is on danger?" they asked.

"Difficult to tell" Talon said evasively. Burbank exchanged a look with his rookery brothers and said firmly: "Talon, we are stupid but we have a sister and she away and she may be in danger. You told us family is important, Delilah is our family and we want her safe. So…" Before Hudson's clone had time to make his next sentence, Talon nodded, feeling suddenly ashamed. Of course family was important; he was the first to admit it. "We go to this building", he said. "Claw, Brentwood, Burbank, with me. Maggie, Hollywood, Malibu, you stay to protect the dwellers."

**A street in front of the 23rd precinct**

Mike was wondering what he was going to say to the cops. Sorry, my partner has just been kidnapped by a gargoyle? Oh, he just had to tell the truth, and…

And a woman left the building. Mike gaped. She looked exactly like the gargoyle he had seen just before, with bluish black hair and in a human version. She even had the same jacket. It was unbelievable. Which word had the gargoyle used, already? Clone slave? Out of journalist instinct, he ran at her. "Please, can I have a word?"

Elisa had hardly noticed the way he was looking at her. She was used of having men staring at her beauty. "Sorry sir, I have no time."

"Michael Harker, I'm a journalist." She felt interested. He was the man who had been writing all those pro-gargoyle articles lately. "I need help, my photograph has been kidnapped by a gargoyle."

"Oh…" she sighed. It was probably a plot to write more articles about gargoyles. "I've got to go. There will be someone in the precinct…"

"I'm not joking! An enormous one with white hair in some kind of a body armour, and a female brown one who talked like a four-year-old kid…" Elisa grabbed his arm. "Where did it happen?"

"Do you know them?" he asked curiously.

"WHERE DID IT HAPPEN?"

**A rooftop**

Delilah opened her eyes. There was no need to pretend to be asleep any more. When the gas had filled the room, she had breathed out deeply and pretended to fall unconscious. She had learned the trick by watching a movie. Of course, the gas was not a deadly one. Thailog was a pervert but necrophilia was not among his things.

She was lying on a cold surface. Someone whimpered. A human male. What did he do in that place? Well, now she had someone to protect. She opened her eyes. Her father was pacing. The human was apparently still half unconscious.

Delilah set her priorities: first, putting the man in a safe place. Second, coming back for Thailog, if possible. No, second, coming back to the Labyrinth, her rookery brothers were probably wondering where she was.

The edge of the roof was only five feet away. She just had to wait for her father to turn her back to her, to grab the human and to run away. She badly wished she had had more gliding lessons. Well, gliding away was better than staying with that mad pervert and waiting.

The partly human clone heard a click. A photo? This stupid human was taking a photo?! Instinctively, she closed her eyes while Thailog was walking to him. "Yes, take more of them" he said in his contemptuous tone. "Are they good, at least?"

"I hope so" said Lenny while getting up. "Could you move to the edge of the roof so that I have the moon just behind you? Thanks. I've already photographed gargoyles but none had been willing to pose. Perhaps I'll be able to take a shot of you and your friend when she is awake?"

"She's my slave, in fact." Delilah's eyes blazed from behind her eyelids. "You have photographed gargoyles?"

"Yes, my best ones were taken when the little angel (the nickname the P.I.T. had given to Demie) was kidnapped by Castaway. I was a Quarryman before, too." (Delilah wondered how someone could be stupid enough to let that slip in front of Thailog). "You have a great face."

"I know."

"I'd like to take a photo of your back, with the moon…" the clone opened her eyes. It was the moment! She jumped on her feet, grabbed the photograph, gagging him with one hand and glided away, her heart pounding.

She heard a shout, the sound of one of those weapons he loved to use. He was cursing her. Then another voice, a very familiar, reassuring voice: one of her rookery brothers! And Talon's voice, too. He was telling her to glide straight ahead, they would take Thailog. So she carried on until she couldn't hear anyone. And she landed on a rooftop with Lenny.

The silly one had been taking photos during the whole glide.

**Same place, a bit later**

Lenny couldn't believe how lucky he was. There were more gargoyles than he had ever dreamt of on that rooftop! He just wished Michael were here, too. Unfortunately, after he had taken a dozen photos, the gargoyle who looked like a panther had said to the one who looked like a tiger: "Oh, but this gentleman must be tired. Can you bring him back to his home, please?" And he had had to go away with the tiger gargoyle, who was apparently deaf and mute. Unfortunately, this gargoyle had wanted to have a look at the camera in mid-air, probably to check if he looked nice on the photos, and he had accidentally dropped it into the Hudson River. Some people are really clumsy.

Weird night. But it had been great. He wished this kind of things could happen to him more often.

**The Labyrinth, later**

The first thing Talon did when he came back was telling Maggie that everyone was back and all right (at least physically). She immediately noticed how upset Delilah looked and made her come into her room. Talon guessed that she was going to comfort her, and perhaps make her explain what had really happened between her and Thailog. Neither him, nor the clones had been able to make her say anything about it.

The phone rang. It was his elder sister. "Hello, Derek? Goliath's still looking for Thailog, with the clan. Have you found him?"

"Yes, but he managed to escape. Everyone is back, safe and sound." He heard her cursing. "You have no idea of where he has gone?" she asked.

"I think the clones may have an idea" he suggested. "But just now, you know, it would be difficult. They are a bit upset, you know."

"OK. Well…" she sounded hesitant. "There is something else I have to tell you. It's important. It's about Xanatos." She told him about his proposal. Derek was completely puzzled. Why would that unscrupulous man do such a thing? Should they accept? Well, Beth was only willing to find her former life back. He had more or less gotten used to this panther-like body and there were some thing he really enjoyed in this situation, like gliding, but on the other hand, Maggie and Claw would probably prefer to be turned back 'normal'. What would he do?

"Derek? Can you hear me?" Elisa asked.

"Yes. I'll think about, sis. Have a good night." He hung up and saw Claw who had just come back. The tiger mutate silently told him what had just happened and Talon couldn't help grinning. "I was sure you were going to get rid of the camera" he said to him. "I can't imagine what would happen if those photos were published." Claw shook his head. He could imagine it very well. And that was worse.

Delilah had more or less managed to look calm and composed until she arrived in the Labyrinth but now she was crying her eyes out, her head resting on Maggie's lap. The lioness mutate was as sweet as ever but this gentleness made Delilah even more uneasy: she had the feeling she didn't deserve such indulgence. She had endangered several people, after all. And she hadn't brought the antidote back.

"This is the entire story?" finally asked Maggie after she had summarized everything (except Thailog's emotional blackmail). "Poor thing, did he hurt you?"

"Yes… no… I'm sorry, I feel so stupid!"

"You've been very brave" Maggie said with a hint of admiration in her voice. "I would have never dared doing such a thing."

"But I failed!"

"No. Now we know that Thailog is in town and we will probably be able to track him down next time" the mutate said encouragingly. She knew things were not that simple but Delilah needed to be comforted. "By the way, pretending to faint with the gas was a very clever idea."

"Do you think so?" At that moment, Burbank entered the room, holding a mug of hot cocoa, Delilah's favourite drink. He put the mug on the bedside table and worriedly asked: "are you all right, sister?"

"Yes…"

"We worried about you, you could have warned you were going!"

"I… don't know why I didn't tell you directly" she stuttered. In fact she knew. Her brothers would have told Talon what she would be doing, and he would have refused to let her do so. "But I left you a note!"

"Yes" Maggie said "but I'm afraid it was not very clearly explained. Well", she added, noticing Delilah's mortified look, "it's just because you can't write yet."

The partly human clone looked at her incredulously. _Yet_? What did she mean? "Do you… do you think I can learn?" she finally asked.

"Of course" Maggie said. "As well as Burbank, Hollywood, Brentwood and Malibu." While saying it, she wondered if they were intellectually ready. But, well, they needed to be encouraged.

"We can't go to school" Burbank noticed. Maggie shrugged. "So we need to make a teacher come. And I think I know the good person."

_To be continued…_


	6. You've got mail

All the characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyright Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of NotreDame. I consider The Goliath Chronicles as invalid in the continuity.

Any kind of feedback is welcome and much appreciated.

Many thanks to Hardwing and Storyseeker for their advice and suggestions.

_Four_

_You've got mail_

Author: NotreDame

Previously, on _Gargoyles_:

Angela smiled. "You nearly got it. I have two mothers. One lives on Avalon and the other one… was Demona."

"So she's my…" Demie tried to remember the word. "grandmother. Why is it you don't want to tell me about her?"

Angela thought hard and decided to tell the truth. "We didn't get on very well with her. She gave us some problems, she didn't like Elisa. Now she's gone. It happens that you look a bit like her. You have the same coloring."

"But I don't want to become like her!" the child protested. This Demona was surely someone horrible as nobody in the clan liked her! Angela laughed. She kissed her adopted daughter on the forehead and said: "Sure, you won't."

"_The longest night_"

There was a big mirror that looked ancient in a corner of the castle. Curious, Demie looked at herself in the mirror.

She didn't see her reflection. Instead, there was a grown female gargoyle who looked a bit like her mother, except that she had blue skin and red hair. She had a lot of golden jewellery on her and was holding a laser cannon in her hands. Her face was strangely familiar to the little girl, who was starting to feel afraid. This woman had a very mean look on her face. Suddenly, realisation dawned on her. "Grandmother?"

The gargoyle laughed and stretched out a hand to her. Instinctively, Demie stepped back. "Don't attack my castle. My mother told me you were not a nice person. Go away." The grown gargoyle laughed and said: "little angel… what a nice name!"

"Go away or I shout!"

"Not without you, Demie… Demie-gargouille…" she said jokingly. Demie was starting to feel panicky. "You say that I am half a gargoyle?"

"Yes."

"How comes I can understand your weird language?" Her grandmother laughed. "You're me. Or you'll be me, one day."

"I do not wish to be like you!" the hatchling said, horrified. "Go away!"

"You'll be like me! You can't escape it." Demie looked at the window. The sky was becoming clearer. "It's nearly dawn, you're going to turn into stone!" she said.

"We bet?" At that moment, Demie felt her little fingers snapping into two and losing their talons, her wings and tail atrophying, her feet getting smaller. But it was painful. It was so painful that she shouted like mad.

And she woke up.

**The Labyrinth, April 1997**

It was 7:30 pm. Dr. Charles Henri Bonnot was finishing examining the little girl. When this Mr Xanatos had hired him, he hadn't expected to try to work on four winged felinoids, including a mute and a psychotic, and a pre-teenage girl who was chronologically older than his own children. They were fascinating cases. "I still have to work on your samples" he finally told the 'child'. "We'll probably have the results next week."

"Probably?"

"You are a complicated case."

"I know" Beth said, sighing. "May I leave now? I have things to do."

"Yes." The adult child left the room. Maggie was waiting in front of the door, reading Claw's sign language method. "Your turn. He's in his _I'll-tell-you-next-week mode_, as usual" she told her. Maggie shrugged. Better having a slow doctor than no doctor at all. Of course, Derek had refused to accept anything that came from Xanatos at first but she had been able to convince him. She really wished she were human again. "I think the clones must be awake now" she said. "How are their lessons going?"

"They can all write their names, now. We are working on the syllables. Pity that the nights are getting shorter, in a few months, I'll be unable to come." Beth smiled inwardly. Being the teacher of five children in adult bodies when she herself was an adult in a child's body was a bit disturbing, but gratifying at the same time. When she had learnt that Delilah had risked her life to try to get the antidote for her, she had immediately accepted to teach them how to read and write. After all, her mother was a teacher too; maybe it was in her blood. And yes, the clones were learning.

It was time the lesson begun. Soon she would have to go to bed. The doctor feared that lack of sleep would possibly hamper her growth.

The lioness mutate got up. She had been feeling a bit tired lately, and sometimes nauseous. She just hoped it was not a side-effect of the mutation: it could make Dr Bonnot's work more difficult. And that was no good.

**Somewhere over Manhattan**

A shadow was gliding silently over the building. A gargoyle landed on a rooftop and watched the street below.

He was of average height and built, stone-colored, with a serious, thought handsome face. He was carrying a leather bag on one shoulder. He seemed to be alone and lost in his thoughts.

A shout interrupted his nightdreaming. A woman was asking for help! He glided down and saw that she was being attacked by three men. Quickly, he grabbed one of them and threw him onto a garbage truck. He turned around to see that another gargoyle, beaked and red-colored, was already throwing another man into the third one. The red gargoyle turned around, saw the stranger and jumped. Another gargoyle in Manhattan? But the stranger was not the priority. He walked to the woman (in fact, she was a teenage girl) and asked her several times if she was all right. Finally, the teenager managed to talk. "Oh… oh, thank you for having saved me! It's unbelievable, I was going to a P.I.T. meeting! My name is Sue Martinez, by the way. Can I have your autograph?"

"Er…" said Brooklyn hesitantly. He tried to find a wisecrack but for once, he couldn't find anything to say. The girl was already browsing the content of her bag. "Oh, please, I am your biggest fan! I read all the articles about you. Is the little angel all right, by the way? And you are…" she added, turning to the grey gargoyle.

"Arch. I'm a cousin."

"Oh, can I have your autograph, too? My friends won't believe it, they will be so jealous! Maybe you can come with me to the meeting? Oh, please, say yes!"

"We have to work" said Brooklyn sharply while thinking that he was not lucky. The only girl who seemed to be interested to him in years was a hysterical human fan. Well, he didn't mind Goliath having a relationship with a human but he himself had more traditional tastes. "Thank you, Sue."

"Oooooh! Please, phone me! And she handed him a piece of paper and ran away, giggling. The two gargoyles looked at each other. "Are all the humans in Manhattan like that?" the newcomer asked politely.

"No. or at least I hope so. This one must have drunk too much, or smoked something illicit."

**Castle Wyvern, the library**

Broadway and Angela were sitting on a couch in front of the fire, tails entwined. She had her head on his shoulder and he was stroking a wisp of her sable hair. They were alone and happy. "When I was a hatchling", she suddenly said, "I believed the sparks in the fire flied up to the sky and became the stars. I had two rookery sisters who believed it too. One night, we lighted all the chimneys of the castle to illuminate the sky and we nearly set fire to the rooms! Guardian Tom got completely crazy at us that night."

Broadway laughed. "It's funny, nearly the same thing happened to the Trio in Scotland, except that it was the forest that could have been burned-out. Well, I should say the quartet, we were four at that time. I still can't believe we didn't ended up locked in the rookery!"

"What happened to your friend?"

"He got closer to a girl in our clan. We were still friends but we spent less time together. And then… you know what happened when the Vikings came."

"I'm sorry. You must miss him."

Broadway did not answer. He was suddenly feeling nostalgic. Life in Scotland had gone and would never come back. But he liked his life here in Manhattan. He still had his two best friends, he lived in a cool city and there was a great kitchen and an even greater library in the castle.

And he had Angela. He really wondered how he could have lived up to then without her. They looked at each other tenderly. She put her hand on his arm and their faces got closer.

Suddenly, the doors banged open and Brooklyn's voice shouted: "Angela! Guess who's coming!" Furious, the two lovebirds glared at him. Why now? Couldn't they ever be alone for a moment? Then the gargess noticed the newcomer and her eyes got wide. Next second, she had run to him and was hugging him so tightly that the aqua gargoyle started to wonder if he was not having a nightmare. He had never seen that guy before. Where did he come from?

Finally, she loosened her grip and stepped back. "Jalapeña, what are you doing here?" She turned to Broadway. "This is my rookery brother, Archangel."

"Arch!" he corrected. "Nice to meet you. You must be Broadway?"

"Yes." He and Brooklyn exchanged a look but before they had time to say anything, Arch had taken a couple of rolls of parchment out of his bag. "Oh, I have mail for you. You know, we didn't know when and how we were going to meet you again so some of us wrote them, just in case."

"You made all this travel to give me mail?" asked Angela, frowning.

"No. yes. Well, couldn't we speak about something else? You don't read them?" The lavender female had a quick look and recognized Princess Katherine's neat writing on the biggest scroll. She was happy to have news from her other family but on the other hand, there was obviously something wrong. One doesn't make the travel from Avalon just to give out mail, knowing that the mists send you where you need to be, not where you want to be. Maybe the feys had given him some help but why would they have done so? And why sending Archangel? He was a friend but they had never been very close to each other, she would have rather expected to see Isobel or perhaps Raphael (not Gabriel, though, he had too many responsibilities). There was something he didn't want to tell her.

At that point, Arch was nearly knocked down by an overexcited Bronx. There was a newcomer and he smelt like Avalon! Perhaps he had come with Boudicca. Bronx ran across the room, sniffing everything, and had to come to the evidence: no Boudicca in this place. Too bad. Well, he would see his mate another night.

Then Demie entered the room. She had reached the biological age of nine. "Mother", she said, "Hudson doesn't want to let me watch…" then she saw the newcomer. They looked at each other, surprised. Arch knew that Angela couldn't possibly have a daughter. And Demie had never met any 'egg' of Avalon.

"Arch" Angela quickly said, "this is Demie, my rookery daughter. Demie, this is Arch, my brother."

"Rookery?" asked Demie, frowning. The word only put in her mind the place where she was threatened to be locked if she did not behave. Before she had time to answer the question, Angela had changed the subject. "Well, sweetie, Hudson has the right to watch television, too. Maybe you could reach an agreement?" And she grabbed her brother by the shoulder and hurriedly added: "and did you visit the castle? Come, I'll show you."

Demie was about to follow them but Brooklyn held her back. "So, there's a problem with Hudson and the television? Let me see…"

Lexington was sitting in front of the computer, chatting with a lesbian friend who didn't know that he was a gargoyle, when Arch and Angela entered the room, followed by a suspicious Broadway. Angela made the introductions. The green gargoyle was only mildly interested in the newcomer. WillowInNYC was telling him about a festival of gay movies that would take place at _night_ when he had been interrupted! "Nice to meet you", he said, giving Arch a warrior handshake before going back to his computer. As neither him, nor Angela seemed to be willing to leave the room and as he still wasn't ready to come out of the closet in front of strangers, he went to the P.I.T. website. Unfortunately, Arch was looking at the screen with wide eyes. "What is this?" he asked.

"A computer."

"WHO LOCKED A GARGOYLE INSIDE IT?" Lex burst into laughter and Angela hurriedly explained that it was only an image, "like the magical pool in Avalon." This made Arch more interested and he started asking more questions. His rookery sister told him about the Quarrymen and the P.I.T. "There are even humans who write fanfictions about us" added Lexington.

"Fanfictions?"

It took a while to tell the newcomer about the principle of fanfictions, internet and chat rooms. Angela explained and explained and explained, leaving the room with her rookery brother when she realized that Lexington was pissed off. In the courtyard, they met Goliath, who had just come back from patrol. There were other introductions. And other ones when they met Hudson. Finally, Angela managed to be alone with her rookery brother.

"Archangel, tell me what's wrong!"

"If you call me Archangel, I'll call you Angie" he said with a hint of anger in her voice. "Why do you want to have something wrong?"

"You didn't come here only to give me mail, did you? There's a problem on Avalon and you ran away."

"Do you think I'm a coward?" he asked, irritated. "No, there's no problem on Avalon, it's as boring as usual. Why couldn't I leave it, by the way? Do you think you are the only one who is allowed to have adventures?"

"This bag" asked Angela, gesturing at his leather bag. "Did you steal something or have to put something secure?"

"No, it's food for the travel." A shameless lie: there had been no smell of food when he had opened it to give her the letters. "Honestly, you don't trust me, you think I'm still an egg, like Katherine?"

The Avalon-hatched gargess sighed. Arch had always been like this: stubborn and quick-tempered. "I have to go on patrol now" she said to stop the argument. "Do you want to come with me? I'll show you Manhattan." Arch agreed and they left.

The patrol was quite uneventful (a few attacks on innocent citizens, as usual). Angela managed to tell her rookery brother about all the important things to know when you live in Wyvern Castle (never mention Demona, Macbeth, or the Quarrymen, don't be surprised if the majordomo turns into a fey, beware of where you put your feet, you could walk on Alex's toys, and so on). She managed to make him tell that he was to stay for about one week, maybe, and then he would leave. He was puzzled by the fact that the nine-year-old hatchling was in fact his immortal rookery mother and even more puzzled by his sister's refusal to tell her anything about it.

Life in New York City was going to be _weird_.

**The quays**

A short, plump man was running in any direction, stopping from time to time to take a photo. He came back and said to another man, tall and thin with hollow cheeks: "Just wait, Mike, I'm sure there are gargoyles on the quays."

Mike sighed. "Sometimes I wonder what you have instead of a brain, Lenny. There were gargoyles here yesterday but it doesn't mean that they will come back."

"Well, we will come back tomorrow."

"Yes, and we will get a cold and we will have to pay the doctor as well as our rents!" Michael Harker was feeling exasperated. Writing articles about P.I.T. meetings didn't pay very well. And that dumb Lenny had managed to lose the gargoyles photos he had taken the night of his kidnapping (foolnapping would have been more accurate, by the way). Mike was not particularly greedy but a human in a city like New York cannot live on love alone. So he needed a good paper.

"Hey! Look at this boat!" suddenly shouted the photograph. Mike had a look. It was a skiff with a Viking bow. Curious, Lenny stepped inside. "What is this? Looks like parchment, doesn't it?" Mike followed his colleague onto the boat out of journalist instinct. The photograph started to read aloud.

"_Vocate__ venti fortunate ex rege Oberonis et hic navis flugem regate ad orae Avalonis_. What does it mean, Mike?"

Mike had learnt a few Latin when he was at school but he had forgotten almost everything. "Venti means winds, I think. Fortunate is rich or happy, can't remember. Rege Oberonis… the king Oberon? Navis is a boat and… oh, Lenny, we have better to do than translate Latin on this skiff!" He got up and gaped. The quay had disappeared and they were lost in the mists.

**Castle Wyvern, before sunrise**

The gargoyles, including Arch, went back to their perches. Angela gave a last hug to her foster daughter and took a menacing pose. Demie watched her turn into stone with her usual feeling of loneliness. For the whole day, she was going to be alone and vulnerable in that weak body.

She went to her room. Fox and Xanatos were probably still sleeping. Perhaps Alex was awake. But she was forbidden to play with him alone because "you never know what could happen." Yes, Alex was special. He had cast this spell that turned her human by day and this other one that made her grow up faster than normal but she would never hurt him!

Sometimes this fast growth was worrying her. She had dreamt that she had been turned into a very old woman, and humans were attacking her. And there was a man who said that he wanted to repel his enemies. And she was lifted from the ground, those three weird voices were chanting something and then she was less old, but still a grown-up, like her mother. Suddenly the man's hair had turned grey. She could clearly remember his face, as if she knew him.

Then Demie had an idea. Once Elisa Maza had made a short visit to the castle when she was undercover and she had forgotten her blond wig. The hatchling had stolen and hid it. Maybe she could use it to go out and have some fun? She folded a blanket and put it in the bed to give the illusion of a sleeping body. Then she dressed as a human child, hid the wig under her sweater and left the building.

She had never been outside alone. Where to go? A movie theatre? No, she had no money. Well, she would hide and watch the movie for free. But the problem was, she couldn't go very far without a car in that big city.

She reached a metro station and managed to get inside it. Oh, it was funny, all those people waiting! She travelled across a part of New York, staying close enough to a group of people for everyone to believe that she knew them. She finally went out and found herself in an unknown part of the town. But she saw a man and her heart was turned to ice.

He was standing next to a car whose doors were open, talking to another man. He was in his early fifties, grey-bearded, dressed in black. She had the feeling she had already seen him. Even his accent was familiar to her.

Oh dear, it was the man she saw in her dreams.

Impulsively, she waited until both men had their backs to her, then she entered the car and hid on the back seat. A few minutes later, the grey beard started the engine, unaware of his clandestine passenger.

**Eyrie Building, later**

Puck had filled a bowl of water and was showing it to Alex. "See, kid? Simple operation. Just pure water. No, you concentrate and you think of somebody. Who do you want to see?"

The kid cooed something. "Excellent! Let's see your mommy!" The fey put a hand over the bowl. "_Image of Fox, come before me, on this pool of water, it's you that I'll see_!" The water became troubled and then the image of Alex's mother appeared like on a television screen. She was training on a punching bag.

The baby burst into laughter and said "Daddy!" The fey made him repeat the incantation and David Xanatos appeared, sitting behind his desk and talking on the phone. The kid giggled again. "Owen?" he asked.

"No, I'm here, kid." Alex nodded. "Les… sinton." A statue appeared on the water. Alex frowned (he would have preferred him to be awake). Then he had another idea. "Demie." Puck made him repeat the incantation.

And nothing happened.

Puck supposed Alex had not pronounced the little girl's name correctly. He tried in turn. Nothing happened. Well, the spell needed to use the exact name of the searched person. Perhaps he had to say "Demona"?

Or perhaps something had happened to Demie: the spell only worked on short distances. Puck turned back into Owen and rushed to the little girl's room. He ripped off the blankets and saw that there was no child under. Her shoes and her jacket were gone too.

Oh no, there was going to be big troubles.

**Macbeth Manor**

The car stopped. The man left his seat, then opened the passenger's door and said "Whoever you are… a child?" Blushing, the girl looked at him and said… err… sorry, wrong car."

This was unexpected but not worrying. Macbeth didn't mind children, he himself had been a father once. "So you took the wrong car, kid? Tell me, do you know your parents' phone number?"

"No."

"Tell me your name, so. Mine is Lennox MacDuff."

"Marina Goupil." (Xanatos had insisted that she had another human name now to explain her fast growth. By day, she was supposed to be her own elder sister). "So, Marina, may I invite you in my manor? I'll find your parent's name in the directory, I'll phone them and they will get you back." _Marina_ nodded and followed him reluctantly.

This was a weird place. Demie stopped in front of an old picture that represented a red-haired woman with a very kind face and a baby in her arms. Marina had the feeling she had already seen her somewhere. "My first wife" explained McDuff.

"She looks very nice."

"She was an angel" he said wistfully. "Nothing in common with the second one."

"Can I play with the baby?"

"Unfortunately not, he is…"

"With her mother?" asked Demie, guessing that they were probably divorced.

"Yes. Come with me." He made her enter a basically furnished room: there were only a few chairs, a desk, shelves and a television. Demie noticed the dust on the TV. "You never watch it?"

"No. My students don't let me enough time." He didn't want to explain that the last time he had watched a television program, he had been nearly turned into stone. "Sit down, can you spell me your name?" Marina spelled it and he left the room.

Demie turned on the television and looked around her. The man had students so he was a teacher, like Beth (she had attended one of Beth's reading lessons in the Labyrinth once but her teacher had noticed that she could already read so the lessons were pointless). Where were his pupils? She would have liked to see other children, for once. Out of curiosity, she went to the desk and had a look at the papers. Loads of sheets covered in writings, a few medieval books… And there were other books on the shelves. A lot were about gargoyles. Demie opened a file and found a newspaper article about the night she had been kidnapped by the Quarrymen. There was a photo of her in gargoyle form, crying in the arms of her mother and this man had annotated it. "_Weird: gargs don't breed that fast. Sorcery?"_

Demie put the file back at its place. What did it mean? She could hardly remember that night (sometimes she had memory problems). She opened another book, one with no title on the cover, and read. It was a very strange story and… it was not written in English! How came she could understand a language she had never learnt?

Marina straightened her wig and tried to find more.

There was no one named 'Goupil' in the directory. Macbeth supposed the little girl's parents were unlisted. So he just had to phone the police. No, he was going to take her to the police station on his way to the college. He just had time for a cup of coffee before going.

The coffee was boiling. He grabbed the coffee-maker and smothered a cry: he had burnt himself! In the other room, the little girl shouted. He poured a cup of steaming drink, entered the room and saw Marina in front of the television. She was rubbing her right hand. "That's not the part of the dream I prefer" she said. He shrugged. Kids were funny. "You want a glass of milk before we leave, maybe?"

"Yes, please." He brought her the glass and she drank in one gulp. Seeing his surprised look, she said "I was hungry. Can I have another one?" She couldn't explain him that her accelerated growth made her hungry most of the time.

They came back into the car, he started driving and he noticed the strange way the girl's hair looked. Blond, but there was a red wisp on one side of her face, and it wasn't there one minute before. This child was wearing a wig? But why?

And she looked a bit familiar to him. Oh no, he thought, I must stop thinking of Gruoch every time I see a red-haired female. This child… doesn't look like my beloved, though. She has more the features of the other redhead I knew. But how is it possible…

And how is it possible that a hatchling mysteriously appears in New York City? Oh, I'm so stupid!

To check, the former king of Scotland pinched his own arm at traffic lights and looked at the little girl in the rear-view mirror. She winced. He thought hard. Why would his nemesis visit him as a human _child_, alone and with no weapons? Could she have come to spy on him? Could she have brought a bomb or poison?

_Poison_… he suddenly remembered about those articles he had read. First a lab assistant got poisoned by a chemical on test, and then a student girl whose name had not been disclosed had the same accident. According to the articles, the chemical was harmless if drunk alone, but if it was mixed with caffeine, it turned you into…

And he had just drunk a whole cup of coffee! Macbeth forced himself to calm down. Driving to the hospital at breakneck speed was not an option, he could turn into child mode at any moment and have an accident in a street full of people. Instead, he parked, took his mobile phone and asked for an ambulance. Then he wondered what to do with the kid. Locking her in his manor? What if she was just an innocent child? Would the gargoyles have taken care of this hatchling if they knew she was an enemy? Perhaps, they were natural protectors, after all.

The little girl started to wonder what was wrong. An ambulance? She decided to leave the car but the doors were locked. Something was _wrong_. She had already seen him somewhere. And the lady on the picture, too. She started to punch the door. "Still the same temper, I see" said the man. She punched harder. "I never saw you before. If you don't let me go, I'll sue you for corruption of a minor and paedophilia."

"Minor? You're older than me!" Demie stopped punching at the door. In her dreams, she was _old_. Were they only dreams or were they… "Let me go or I catch a spell on you!" she said at random. Surprisingly, the man seemed to take this seriously. He opened her door and she left the car and ran at a passer-by. "Please, madam, this man had tried to kidnap me!" She turned around and Macbeth was gone.

The woman took her to the nearest police station. She told her version of what had just happened: some Lenny Macdonald (she couldn't remember the name) had took her in her car and tried to take off her sweater. But she couldn't help thinking of what had just happened. Why did the man know her? Why did she dream of him? And WHY had he been afraid when she had threatened him with sorcery?

She had to find out.

**The shores of Avalon**

"LENNY BRANDT! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!"

_To be continued…_


	7. Bye bye, little angel

All the characters appearing in Gargoyles and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles are copyright Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company. No infringement of these copyrights is intended, and is not authorized by the copyright holder. All original characters are the property of NotreDame. I disregard The Goliath Chronicles as invalid in the continuity.

Any kind of feedback is welcome and much appreciated.

Many thanks to Hardwing and Storyseeker for their advice and suggestions.

_Four_

_Bye bye, little angel_

Author: NotreDame ()

Previously, on _Gargoyles_:

"You didn't come here only to give me mail, did you?" (asked Angela) "There's a problem on Avalon and you ran away."

"Do you think I'm a coward?" Arch asked, irritated. "No, there's no problem on Avalon, it's as boring as usual. Why couldn't I leave it, by the way? Do you think you are the only one who is allowed to have adventures?"

"This bag" asked Angela, gesturing at his leather bag. "Did you steal something or have to put something secure?"

Mike: "LENNY BRANDT! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!"

"_You've got mail_"

**Castle Wyvern, late April 1997**

Archangel broke out of his stone shell and wondered where he was. Then he remembered. He checked immediately his bag and sighed with relief: apparently, it had turned into stone with him so no one had stolen him anything.

Then he noticed the human woman he had seen several times in Avalon, who was talking animatedly with Goliath. Angela was listening to them, her face unreadable, holding a sulking Demie by her hand. The hatchling was wearing human clothes that had been torn off when she had turned back into a gargoyle. It was a funny sight but the argument between the few people who were talking was definitely not funny. Apparently, Demie had run away during the day and done something stupid.

Arch was not interested in the argument. He followed Broadway and Lexington into the castle. The latter had the feeling he had been a bit too cold with the newcomer the night before: Arch was going to be clan for a while, after all. "Did Angela show you Manhattan?" he asked him.

"Yes, a part of it."

"What about carrying on with the visit this night? It would be cool" he suggested.

"_Cool_?"

"It means…" Lexington remembered his own reaction when he had heard the expression for the first time. How time had been flying! He tried to explain what it meant and then asked conversationally if Arch had come with the mists of Avalon or by another way. Arch looked slightly embarrassed. "I took a boat" he said. "You know, your computor looks very… cool. Can you show me how it works?" Lex nodded, noticing that Arch had deliberately changed the subject but unwilling to make a fuss about it.

**The shores of Avalon**

Mike could hardly believe his eyes. What did this island do in the harbor of New York City? No, it couldn't be New York, the water was way too clean. He tried to use his mobile phone but there was apparently no network. Overexcited, Lenny was photographing like mad. "The scoop… the scoop!"

Suddenly, both men saw something in the sky. Next second, a gargoyle landed in front of them. She was about nineteen, brown-skinned and black-haired with wings like a flying squirrel. Lenny took several photos immediately, turning around the young girl and wondering how her funny dress could fit on her. Were her wings pierced? On the other hand, Mike noticed the bow she was carrying and tried to explain the situation. "We are sorry to bother you, madam, but it appears that we had a little navigation problem. Could you please tell us where we are?"

"Avalon. You're trespassing." Mike tried to remember where and when he had already heard this strange name and hoped the gargoyle would understand his weak explanations. He couldn't help noticing that she was about ten times stronger than him and that she could easily kill him if she wanted to. "It's a misunderstanding. I and my colleague are going to go back to where we come from and…" At that moment, a male gargoyle, bald and rust-colored, landed beside his rookery sister. "Faith, where did you find these humans?" he asked while Lenny was taking more photos.

"I don't know. They say they are here by accident." Mike nodded. "Yes, we did not intend to trespass."

"I'm Lenny Brandt and this is Michael Harker" added Lenny. "We are journalists. Would you please answer a few questions?"

"I'm Edward and this is Faith" the rust gargoyle answered. "I don't know what a journalist is but I think _you_ will have to answer _our_ questions. Come with us."

"Edward, wait" said Faith. "You're not going to bring them directly to Oberon? We don't know how he could react and see, they look funny. They can't be invaders." Edward took a closer look at the two of them. "We don't have any weapons" Mike said immediately. He turned his pockets inside-out and showed its content to the two gargoyles: keys, identity papers, a little money, a pack of chewing-gum, a mobile phone and a small tape recorder. Faith and Edward looked at them curiously and decided that nothing was dangerous. Then Edward grabbed Lenny's camera and watched it from every angle, ignoring the photograph's protests. "What do you think?" he finally asked Faith.

"We bring them to Gabriel? I know where he is." Edward sighed. It was the right thing to do. Too bad.

**Wyvern**** Castle****, the library**

Angela tried to ignore that Demie had just been locked in the rookery, that was in her bedroom. She had been trying to explain that she was the victim of a miscarriage of justice but nobody had been fooled. The most disturbing thing was, at one moment, the hatchling had gestured at Elisa and asked: "You're not going to believe this _human_?" She had pronounced the word 'human' the way one can pronounce the word 'bitch'.

Now she was going to be alone to read her mail. Arch was on patrol with the Trio, Goliath was at Elisa's and Hudson and Bronx were watching television. She took a scroll and unrolled it. It was from her sister Isobel.

_Dear Angela,_

_I am writing you this letter but I don't know when you are going to read it. I miss you, sister, and I really wish you are happy, wherever you are. Are there handsome boys in your new clan? You deserve someone good. There will be two mating ceremonies here, very soon, and perhaps they have already taken place when you read my letter: Gabriel and Ophelia, and Lear and Gaetana._

_The only problem is, nobody knows what a gargoyle mating ceremony really is so they will be probably more like human weddings than like anything else. Princess Katherine is more moved than you can possibly imagine. She keeps saying "my little eggs, my little eggs…" She even insists that Ophelia and Gaetana have white dresses for the ceremony. Gaetana quite likes the idea but Ophelia categorically refuses (up to know). She keeps saying that nobody is going to make her look like a big doll. Well, you know how she is, I wonder if she will not accept, just to have peace._

_All the feys will attend the ceremony, some even want to help preparing it. In fact it's practical as we have to train every day, now. Gliding, fighting on the ground, archery… Yesterday, Ares had a row with Athena about how to train us (they are very efficient when they don't argue) and we had to hide until…_

Angela stopped reading. So her best friend had finally gotten mated? She was so happy for him! But at the same time, she couldn't help feeling strangely nostalgic. Four of her rookery siblings had gotten mated and she hadn't attended the ceremony. Some obscures feys she didn't know had been there, not her. Well, she shouldn't complain. She had chosen this new life and she loved it! If only one could be at two places at the same time…

Then she thought of the mating ceremony she would probably have one day and she thought her foster parents would not attend it. Well, her father would be there, and so would be her new clan. And (she smiled in spite of herself) at least princess Katherine wouldn't make her wear any ridiculous frilly white dress.

In her room, Demie could only hear the faint background noise of Hudson's television. Everyone else was probably on patrol. It was time to act. She undid a coat hanger and tried to pick the lock on. Why would she stay in that stupid room when she did not deserve it? After about ten minutes, she realized that she wouldn't go out this way.

So she finally ripped the lock off. She would find a way to explain it later.

Someone was laughing in the library. It was probably her mother, reading something funny. And Hudson and Bronx were watching 'Celebrity Hockey'. She discreetly went into the courtyard and jumped from a parapet, enjoying the feeling of the fresh air in her small wings. Then she noticed something brown on the ground of the courtyard. Apparently, Arch had forgotten his leather bag. Curiously, she went down and opened it. It only contained a battered book. On some pages, someone had written long texts with black ink. On other pages, there were weird sentences in red ink. All sentences were in Latin and the black texts looked like a diary.

_Tom came back half-a-day ago, the eggs were overexcited. We had a really hard time, calming them down. Poor Tom, he looked weary. Hard travel for a 20-year-old. He didn't find Goliath. The children (biologically four now) turned to stone in the Great Hall while listening to him telling them about his travel. Now he is in Katherine's room, they're making so much noise that I just want to run away and shout._

_It's fair. Why would Katherine choose me? I'm useless and he is young and has a good future. And first of all, he never destroyed anybody's life. My room is just beside hers, it is just a matter of time before he moves inside it. I think I'm going to move. There is a quiet dungeon where I could put my bed and my things. Were it not for the eggs, I would go back into the real world._

Demie stopped reading. This was really a _weird_ story. Staying for eggs? Then she had a look at the sentences in red. It was nearly unreadable. She read one aloud. It sounded weird.

Suddenly, the book was ripped from her hands. "This is mine!" Arch shouted. Brooklyn was standing just behind him. "You were supposed to be in the rookery!" he said. She shook her head. "I won't go!"

"Do what I'm telling you!" The second-in-command's eyes blazed white and Demie shuffled into the castle. The red gargoyle couldn't help noticing how more and more she acted like her adult self.

Angela left the library and saw her clan daughter sulkily going back into her room. "What the matter, Demie?" she asked. The hatchling shook her head. "Nothing. I…" Then she had a better look at Angela and asked: "How come you are…" And she looked down at her own body and gaped. "Angela, what has happened to me?"

Worried, Angela lifted her hatchling mother in her arms. "It will be all right." She brought her back into her room and noticed that her outfit had become way too short. What was happening? "Mother", the hatchling said, "I'm feeling weird." The lavender female tried hard to hide how much she was feeling helpless. "Please", she said, "try to stop growing up now."

**Avalon**

Mike and Lenny followed the two gargoyles into a cave. "It's a magical place" explained Faith. "One cannot see the entrance from the outside." Before the journalists had time to ask questions, a male voice shouted: "couldn't we be alone, for once?" And the two humans saw two other gargoyles: a tall, bluish grey male and a female who looked like a triceratops. They were standing embraced and it was not difficult to guess what they were probably doing before being interrupted. "We are sorry" said Faith. "We know you are on honeymoon but we really have a problem. These two… journalists say they are here by accident and if we bring them to the castle, well, you know what could happen?"

Gabriel sighed. "Did they have any weapons?" he asked. Edward showed him Lenny's camera. "Is this… magical?" he asked. Lenny laughed. "It is the magic of photography!" Mike elbowed him. If these gargoyles didn't know what a camera was, they were definitely not in the area of New York. What could happen?

"I remember about photos" suddenly said Ophelia. "Once, when Elisa Maza came to Avalon, Princess Katherine insisted that she had a bath and a wash of clothes. She lent her a dress to wait for her clothes to dry and Elisa said she wish she could have a photo of her in the dress. She said it was some kind of a picture that magically drawn itself."

Lenny laughed (such naivety was so _cute_) and Michael tried to remember where he had already heard this name, Elisa Maza. Gabriel decided that the camera was not dangerous (if someone as trustworthy as Elisa Maza was willing to use it so it was not sorcery) and handed it back to Lenny, who started making photos again. "Who told you about Avalon?" Gabriel asked Michael.

"Nobody. We found a boat in the harbor of New York City, there was a paper inside it with a sentence in Latin, we read it and we ended up here. We know it's pretty stupid but…"

"New York?" Ophelia interrupted. "Do you happen to know gargoyles named Goliath or Angela?"

"Wait" said the leader. "Do you know whose boat it was?" Mike shook his head. Gabriel thought hard. It was most probably a gargoyle who had run away. He suspected Lear and Gaetana, who had been talking about a 'real' honeymoon for days. But it was not the point: if these humans were found on the island, they would have a hard time explaining their situation, they needed to be protected. "Faith, Edward, go to the castle and bring back food, water and warmer clothes as fast and as discreetly as possible. They will need it on their way back."

"Couldn't we visit before?" Lenny asked pleadingly, still thinking about the article of his life. Michale had mixed feelings. On the one hand, curiosity was overwhelming him, he just wanted to see everything on this island, and to write down everything. He was already composing sentences in his head. And on the other hand, he could see that those winged, fanged beings were obviously afraid of someone called Oberon. It was probably an extremely dangerous creature and Mike knew he was no hero and didn't want to be one. "We'd better go home" he finally said. "We are sorry for interrupting your honeymoon. Thank you for being so understanding."

Gabriel and Ophelia explained them everything they knew about the mists of Avalon. Time passed but their two rookery siblings didn't come back. "Perhaps we should go and see if they have a problem?" Ophelia suggested.

At that moment, someone entered the cave. A young man who looked incredibly like a statue of the god Hermes Mike had seen in a museum. The two humans didn't have time to hide and Lenny was already taking photos before the gargoyles could react. "Lord Oberon wants to see the trespassers" said the fey. Mike turned to his protectors but they had just frozen into stone. Reluctantly, he followed Hermes, hoping that Lenny would stop behaving like an idiot and wishing he was back home.

**Castle Wyvern**

Soon everybody knew that Demie was apparently growing back to her normal age. Lexington checked several times that the security systems of Alex's bedroom were working normally and Brooklyn kept pacing up and down in the great hall. Goliath phoned Elisa, told her what was happening and commanded her to stay away from the castle. A few minutes later, she was entering the Eyrie building, considering that there was no reason for him to give her orders.

Angela left Demie's room and saw her. "Please, Elisa, could you tell Broadway to bring food? I think her metabolism is accelerating, she is hungry and she looks so skinny!" Elisa nodded. She could hardly feel pity for Demona but Angela looked upset and food couldn't harm anybody. "Angela" she warned, "if she is coming back, be careful. She is capable of anything."

Thirteen-year-old Demie saw her 'mother' coming back into the room with a loaded tray. Without saying a thank, she started devouring the food with her bare hands. It was quite a disgusting sight. Someone knocked at the door. The lavender gargess came to see and came back with a bag containing Demona's halter, loincloth and jewellery. "Demie, how do you feel?" she asked. The blue teenager stopped eating and thought hard. She was remembering things she thought she had forgotten. She had been stabbed to death several times. Burnt alive. Insulted, treated worse than an animal. How could she feel? "Moth… Angela, what is happening to me?"

In the great hall, Elisa was introduced to Arch. Goliath told her (of course) that she shouldn't have come here: with Demona in the castle, she was in danger. In fact, she was probably going to be continuously in danger is their former nemesis was back. Brooklyn was disgusted, he really preferred innocent little Demie to evil-minded Demona. Even Bronx looked disappointed as he couldn't play with the hatchling any more. Archangel had seen Demona only once, when Avalon Castle had been attacked, and it was a bad memory: she had nearly torn one of his wings out.

"I just wonder what makes her come back" Lex said aloud. "Could it be a side-effect of her spell of immortality?"

"Possibly, lad" said Hudson, who looked more or less resigned.

"Or this book?" suggested Brooklyn. "Demie reads a sentence in Latin and one minute later, she is growing back! What kind of book is it?"

"A diary." said Arch. "The Magus legated it to me." Hudson shook his head. "Aye, I can't make out why someone would write a diary in Latin, lad. Are ye sure it is only a classical diary?"

Arch blushed. "My poor foster father never really got over the fact that he had lost his magic. He regularly tried to remember the spells of the Grimorum Arcanorum and to write them down. And had he not worked on his magic, he would have never defeated the Weird Sisters!" he said proudly. Hudson sighed. "So ye've been hanging around with a book full of magic spells that had been macerating in the air of Avalon for a thousand year? It's a magic book ye have in yer hands, lad, and a very powerful one!"

Everyone looked at the stone-colored gargoyle. He tightened his grip on the book. "It is mine" he said, "the Magus has legated it to me!" Arch felt he had rights on this book, whether it was magical or not. He had been the only one on Avalon who had really understood how sad and helpless his foster father had been. Goliath's eyes glowed white. "Give it to me" he commanded, and Arch had to obey. Sorcery? Nothing good could come out of it!

"Goliath" Elisa dared saying, "do you think it is possible to find the spell Demie has just used?"

"You want to find a way to reverse it?" he asked.

"Maybe we'll have no time to do this. No, if this spell has cured Demona from the effects of the chemical, it may work on Beth, too." Goliath gaped. "You want to use sorcery on your own sister?" Before she had time to answer, a shout echoed in the corridor.

Demona's growing back was extremely impressive. Angela had the feeling she was watching a horror movie: her mother looked more like a zombie or a ghoul than like anything else. After having cleaned her third plate, she put it down and hid her face in her hands. "Angela… what has happened to me?"

"Mother…" stuttered the young gargess, "I… I wish I could explain you everything without hurting you. There has been an accident and… I had to lie to you a bit. You know it was…"

"Open the window, please." Angela obeyed. Then she felt two bony arms embracing her and the coldness of a kitchen knife against her neck. She couldn't move. "Call for help, _mother_" whispered Demona.

**Avalon**

Mike and Lenny were ushered to the castle. The first thing they saw on the parapets was stone gargoyles. How is it possible? thought Mike. It is too early for the sun to set, and yet, it is day-time. Lenny noticed that if most gargoyles were frozen in menacing poses, two of them were apparently arguing when the sun rose. A human woman in her early sixties was walking among them, apparently counting the statues, like a primary school teacher.

Then the journalists had to walk in the corridors. People were watching them curiously. In fact, they didn't all look humans: a lot had a weird skin color, pointed ears or strange-looking clothes. Some were definitely not human. Lenny got completely overexcited when seeing a man with an elephant's head and took a dozen photos. His camera disappeared in his hands and reappeared in front of a woman who looked surprisingly like a statue of the warrior goddess Athena. She looked at it, apparently puzzled. Lenny wanted to protest but at that moment, they arrived in a room that looked like a throne room.

Mike had to pinch himself to check if he was not dreaming. It was the scoop of his life. If he lived long enough to write about it.

**Castle Wyvern**

Goliath opened the door to find his ex, hardly recognizable, all skin and bones, holding his daughter bodily. She had a knife against her jugular vein. "The Grimorum!" she said. "Or I kill her!"

"You won't kill our daughter, Demie" he protested.

"STOP CALLING ME DEMIE!!" The knife cut into the skin. Angela closed her eyes. It couldn't be true, her mother wasn't going to kill her, she was obviously bluffing! On the other hand, Goliath knew that in spite of her weakness, Demona could easily cut her daughter's veins. A bleeding that was not stopped on time could kill her and the average doctor would probably refuse to treat a gargoyle. And moreover, his daughter did not seem to realize what was happening. "Mother, it's me!" she whispered.

"Give me the _Grimorum__ Novum_!" Reluctantly, the leader of the Wyvern clan gave her the leather-covered book. He didn't want to give satisfaction to his enemy but he didn't want to see his daughter murdered either. Slowly, Demona walked to the opened window, still holding her daughter. "You're gonna help me" she whispered. "Carry me to my manor."

"I think you're making a mistake, mother" protested Angela. But she took her seventeen-year-old mother by the waist – she was so skinny! – and jumped through the window.

Goliath growled with rage. Elisa put a hand on his arm. "Don't worry" she said, "she's still too weak for really threatening her." Goliath sighed and looked at his clan. They were all obviously either angry, or worried, or both. He took a decision. "We follow them. Discreetly."

**A rooftop in front of Destine Manor**

The clan watched both gargesses entering the manor through a window. Apparently, Angela was unharmed. Arch was much more worried about his rookery sister than about his lost book. "It's my fault" he said remorsefully. "Had I not let this book lying about, she would still be a harmless child."

"She would have grown back sooner or later, lad" Hudson said reassuringly. "It just happened faster than expected."

"Too bad" said Elisa, who had made the travel in Goliath's arms. "I was about to suggest that we made her drink that chemical again." Brooklyn smiled at her approvingly. Goliath laughed nervously. "It would be cheating" he said. "It was a lie. Demie never existed."

"What about Angela?" Broadway asked, concerned about his beloved. "She's alone with Demona, now."

"We wait?" suggested Lex. "Maybe she will be able to calm her down." Goliath wondered what to do. Demona was still weak, Angela was the only person who had some kind of an influence on her and moreover, she was naïve but not stupid. But on the other hand, the Demona who had just entered the manor seemed to act much more randomly than the one he used to know. Would Angela be able to handle this situation? "We wait" he finally said.

**Dominique Destine's bedroom**

The room was cold and dark. Too weak to move, Demona was hugging herself on the wide bed, in her usual halter and loincloth. Her daughter entered the room. "I managed to put the electricity back" she said. "How do you feel?"

"How do you think I can feel? I spent several months in the skin of a hatchling, unable to do anything valuable…"

"You created the P.I.T.!" she protested.

"I've been humiliated by the Quarrymen in front of hundreds of humans! And that bitch Elisa Maza…"

"Don't insult my friend!" protested Angela.

"That BITCH has been torturing me, locking me in a closet, strutting about with Goliath in front of me…"

"Aren't the two of you divorced?"

"And you've been lying to me continuously" she added painfully. "You told me I was my own grandmother, you never told me what the humans have been doing to me in one thousand year. Why? I can't believe you…" Angela sat on the bed and tried to embrace her mother but she pushed her away. "I'm sorry mother" she said. "It's just… the first time I saw you as a hatchling, you looked happy, much happier than I had ever seen you. I want it to carry on, is that wrong?"

"Happy?" her mother shrieked. "Happy as the half of myself? That's your idea of happiness, playing with a baby and watching cartoons? What kind of mother are you going to be?"

"I can't be worse than you!"

Angela immediately regretted what she had just said. Her mother looked so miserable, every bone visible under her skin, and she didn't know what to say or do to make things better. "Are you hungry?" she asked in a very Broadway-like way.

"Yes. Please, the kitchen is downstairs."

When she opened the door of the kitchen, Angela was assailed by a cloud of flies. Nobody had entered this room for months and most of the food had rotten or gotten out-of-date. Hurriedly, she opened the window to get rid of the smell and found herself face to face with an obviously worried Broadway. "Are you all right, my angel?" he asked.

"I'm fine. But her metabolism is going mad and she is very upset."

"Goliath wants you to come back with me immediately."

"No! Please, she needs me, just now. She's starving." Broadway nodded and entered the kitchen. A good meal could only put Demona in a better mood. They searched throughout the kitchen, finally found three boxes of canned food that were not out-of-date and micro-waved them. Then she kissed him lightly on his lips and they embraced briefly. "Please, tell Father that I'm going to stay a bit, for her. Don't worry about me." He nodded, unconvinced, kissed her on the forehead and left through the window.

Demona was still huddled up on her bed when her daughter entered the room. Her anger had apparently faded away. She took the tray in her hands and started to eat so voraciously that Angela had to tell her to slow down. She waited until she had finished and wiped her face, as if she was still a child. "You know" she said, embarrassed, "just now, I didn't mean..."

"Angela…" Demona said slowly with a hint of tenderness in her voice, "you will be a really good mother. One day. You just need to teach your children how to defend themselves."

"Fighting?" Demona's daughter didn't like fighting. She had to, being a natural born protector like all gargoyles, but she really wished she didn't have to fight. "Mother, I wish my children will live in a world where gargoyles and humans can live together in peace."

"It cannot be possible!"

"It has already begun. See, the P.I.T. exists!"

Demona laughed sadly. "So, my poor child, you never learn anything? Humans are a race of perverts!"

"And you?" asked Angela, shocked. "You didn't learn anything during those five months?"

"Xanatos was only interested in observing the possible effects of the VAL001" she said bitterly. "Fox has been playing with me like with a doll, making me wear ridiculous dresses. It's just a matter of time before the little brat of their son starts acting like his disgusting father. The bitch Maza was too happy to have your father for her, she slapped me while I was defenceless and locked me in a closet. The mutates treated me like a criminal. And as for your P.I.T., it's just a hobby for idle fools, a way to ease their conscience while they beat their kids or their dog. Yes, those days as a hatchling were illuminating."

The sun rose. Angela froze into stone while a single tear was running on her cheek. Then Demona felt an awful pain in her whole body. She was turning back into a human. And it was painful again. "_The child who is human by day, And gargoyle when sun is away, From now on will feel no more pain, When the magical change happens._" That was the wording of Puck's incantation but now that she was no _child_ anymore, the pain was back.

Suddenly, Dominique was awfully cold in her sensitive human skin. She turned to her stone daughter and had a sudden surge of affection when looking at the beautiful features that looked so much like hers, now frozen in a sad expression. But her affection was mixed with bitterness. Angela was so naïve, so innocent! And she would die one day, the one and only person in the world who really cared for her was no immortal. How could she carry on living without her, alone? Distraught, the immortal gargoyle tried to imagine how her grandchildren would look like. Poor hatchlings who would grow up in a world full of hostile humans! No, thought Demona, I'll find a way to get rid of the humans. For Angela's children

The bedroom was still awfully cold. Demona buried herself under the stone cold covers, shivering. She would go to work another day. Her sad life as a lonely, loveless, immortal fallen angel had begun again.

_To be continued…_

PS: If you have any comments, please use my new email, . Thank you.


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